Proposed Rockefeller supported Cybersecurity Executive Order Illustrates a Government First Culture

It appeared in the Senate first.  A cybersecurity bill written up by Joe Lieberman that would use the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies to coordinate internet and computer system security efforts.

Responding to fears from conservatives, liberals, and libertarians, the Senate refused to move on the bill and it died.  Now the Obama Administration wants to establish by executive order what he could not convince Congress to do.

According to The Hill:

Sponsors of Lieberman's bill have urged the White House to issue an executive order to put measures in place that ensure key infrastructure is better protected from cyberattacks. Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) both sent letters to the White House last month that urged the president to take action.

According to the people familiar with the draft, the executive order would set up an inter-agency council that would be led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Members of the council would include the Department of Defense and the Commerce Department, and discussions are ongoing about including other agencies and officials, such as representatives from the Department of Energy and Treasury Department, as well as the attorney general and the director of national intelligence.

DHS would be responsible for the overall management of the program, but the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would work with industry to help craft the framework for it. The agency would work with the private sector to develop cybersecurity guidelines and best practices.

DHS would receive the guidance from NIST and work with so-called sector coordinating councils to identify which industry sectors would be considered critical infrastructure, as well as determine what cybersecurity best practices and standards the industry participants in the voluntary program would follow.

So private sector cybersecurity is so important, that we want to let the sorority Delta Eta Sigma (that's DHS to you and me, Rusty) take charge?  The group that will be on double secret probation for relentless sexual harassment of men?  That's who you want making critical decisions?

The involvement of Senator Jay Rockefeller is suspect as well.  He rarely met a big government program that doesn't meet his hearty approval.

Frankly, sexual harassment aside, the government is not very good at  these things.  Government action these days means convening a billion dollar conference in a swank resort, listening to a few papers, drinking free booze, and going home. 

The proper role of government here would be to, without any orders or laws, suggest that appropriate private sector entities get together and do it themselves.  Lend expertise if necessary, but otherwise butt out. Government is not the solution to these problems.  It can help top facilitate the private sector, but control and coordination are a bad idea.

America has become a country that thinks of government first when it wants solutions to problems.  That is bizarre, considering that the private sector has given most of the country's greatest benefits.  Government is not capable of effective and efficient action unless it is collecting taxes. Business operates from motivations and incentives that are more imperative.  They have more reason to work harder to do the job right.

After all, private companies do not want to wake up one morning  to see all their data fried as their computers belt out "Rockin' the Cazbah" or something like that.  There is motivation here that can spawn innovation and solutions that can be effective and even profitable.

But government needs to help get the principals together, then step out of the way.  Some may be as suspicious of business as others are of government.  The difference is that business can be held to account if they fail or do not function properly.  Bureaucrats are never truly accountable.