Homeland Security Threat to US, Essay Example

Executive Summary

This memorandum recommends that the U.S. Government should immediately form a working partnership with the private sector to create a national cyberfirewall against foreign cyber attacks.

Threat

A huge-scale cyber attack has the potential to completely derail the economy by taking down banks, power grids, and other components of the nation’s digital infrastructure.

U.S. Policy Goals

Cyber Security is an important aspect of US National Security because the internet does not only power the private and public economic sectors but also supports the security infrastructure. Thus, the Government has a vested interest in working with the private sector enhance cyber security in order to protect both national economic and security interests.

Alternative Strategies

The US Government may also choose to bypass the private sector and take responsibility for cyber security all by itself.

Another option may be to form a coalition with friendly nations to pool together financial and human resources to create a cyber firewall.

The third option may be to invite the private sector to take a major role in designing national cyber firewall.

Recommendation and Implementation Plan

The Director of National Intelligence believes that the Government doesn’t have the necessary human capital to create an effective national cyber firewall, thus, trying to do everything by itself will be a failure and waste of national resources.

Forming a coalition with friendly nations to create a cyber firewall may actually increase the security risks because rogue elements in friendly nations may use the insider knowledge of cyber firewall to gain access to US military secrets.

Giving most of the responsibility for cyber firewall to the private sector is also not feasible because private sector tends to focus more on economic interests than military security interests.

Thus, the best course is to form a partnership with the private sector. The Government may provide most of the financial capital while the private sector could be relied upon for most of the human capital.

Reference

National Terror Alert Response Center. U.S. Government Warned of 9/11 Like Cyber Attack. 3 December 2012. 12 December 2012 <http://www.nationalterroralert.com/2012/12/03/u-s-government-warned-of-911-like-cyber-attack/>.