[ISN] Clinton to Ask Congress for $2.85 Billion for Terrorism Prevention

From: mea culpa (jerichoat_private)
Date: Sat Jan 23 1999 - 17:42:43 PST

  • Next message: mea culpa: "[ISN] VPN technology bandwagon grows"

    From: darek milewski <darekmat_private>
    
    http://www.news.com/Investor/NewsItem/0,213,0~3~2~Computer%20Data%20Security~AXNT~BLO~357913402~~~~~,00.html
    Clinton to Ask Congress for $2.85 Billion for Terrorism Prevention
    Bloomberg News
    January 22, 1999, 12:00 a.m. PT
    
    Washington, Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Bill Clinton will ask
    Congress for $2.85 billion in fiscal year 2000 to increase the ability of
    the U.S. military and civil defense officials to prevent attacks by
    terrorists using computers as well as biological and chemical weapons,
    White House officials said. 
    
    Clinton, in an address scheduled before an audience at the National
    Academy of Sciences, wants to increase funding for vaccine research and a
    national system that will enable public health officials to do a better
    job in minimizing damage from possible biological and chemical weapons
    attacks and in coordinating responses around the country. 
    
    He also wants money to help the National Domestic Preparedness Office
    develop rapid-response programs for 120 U.S.  cities and metropolitan
    areas, and he wants to hire scores of information technology experts to
    design new ways to protect the computer systems of government agencies
    from vandals and hackers. 
    
    Companies such as Network Associates Inc., based in Santa Clara,
    California and Rockville, Maryland-based Axent Technologies Inc. which
    specialize in computer security software, could benefit from new
    government business. 
    
    ``This could only be a win for us,'' said Marvin Dickerson, senior product
    marketing manager at Network Associates, a company that's been working on
    federal government computer security projects for the last 15 years. ``The
    folks we already do business with stand to get a lot more money to
    spend.''
    
    Defense Spending
    
    Network Associates in December helped MCI WorldCom Inc.  fight a computer
    virus attack. Axent earlier this month bought closely held Internet Tools
    Inc., a maker of software that can prevent Internet break-ins, for $25.3
    million; officials there were not immediately available for comment on the
    Clinton administration's new spending proposal. 
    
    President Clinton mentioned his plans to meet the challenges of terrorist
    threats in the 21st Century during Tuesday's State of the Union speech. 
    
    ``We must work to keep terrorists from disrupting computer networks,'' he
    said to a joint session of Congress and a national television audience.
    ``We must work to prepare local communities for biological and chemical
    emergencies, to support research into vaccines and treatments.''
    
    Clinton, who is trying to isolate and topple Iraq's President Saddam
    Hussein for his refusal to stop developing his arsenal of chemical and
    biological weapons, will ask Congress for a total of $12 billion more for
    the Defense Department next year. Pentagon officials want to begin buying
    new weapons systems and give higher pay and pensions to U.S. military
    personnel so they won't leave the armed forces. That request is part of an
    total increase of $110 billion Clinton wants for the U.S. armed forces
    during the next six years. 
    
    Clinton administration officials haven't said how they plan to pay for the
    new defense spending. About $2.5 billion of the cost could be covered by
    closing U.S. military bases considered obsolete, said Robert Bell, a
    member of the National Security Council. 
    
    Base Closings Proposed
    
    Office of Management and Budget documents indicate that base closings
    proposed by the Clinton administration would cost the government $4.7
    billion through 2006 while the savings would total about $6.5 billion
    through 2011. 
    
    Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress have opposed the Clinton
    administration's efforts to cut defense costs through base closings and
    are likely to do so again this year.  U.S. military bases are the largest
    employers in some congressional districts and even some states. Few
    lawmakers want to be blamed for the unemployment caused by a base closing. 
    
    Since 1988, 95 bases have been closed under a special bipartisan procedure
    set up by Congress. The last round of closings was in 1995. Congress in
    June 1997 rejected the Pentagon's request for a new round starting in 1999
    and 2001. The Pentagon tried again in November 1997, recommending more
    base closures in 2001 and 2005. That request was also denied. 
    
    About 1.4 million Americans are on active duty, with about 250,000
    overseas in the Persian Gulf, Korea, and Bosnia. Others are in Central
    America, helping in the aftermath of natural disasters. 
    
    
    -o-
    Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn".
    Today's ISN Sponsor: Internet Security Institute [www.isi-sec.com]
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 13:17:11 PDT