[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PHYSICAL SECURITY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE INFORMATION

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. BOB RILEY

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 18, 2000

  Mr. RILEY. Mr. Speaker, I enter into the Record the following letter 
associated with my remarks of October 17 contained on page E1808 of the 
Congressional Record.

         Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, 
           Communications, and Intelligence,
                               Washington, DC, September 29, 2000.
     Hon. Bob Riley,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Riley: This is in response to your 
     letter to Secretary Cohen concerning the $10 million that 
     Congress appropriated in the Department of Defense 
     Appropriations Act, 2000 (Public Law 106-79) to be available 
     only for retrofitting security containers that are under the 
     control of, or that are accessible by, defense contractors. 
     Secretary Cohen has asked me to respond since this is a 
     matter under my direct purview. Thank you for your letter.
       As you may be aware, the Joint Security Commission II, led 
     by retired General Welch, addressed this issue in the 
     Commission's report dated August 24, 1999. The Commission 
     found that a program calling for industry to convert to the 
     electronic lock would be potentially expensive with little 
     commensurate benefit in terms of improved security. The 
     Commission estimated that the cost of such a program for only 
     5 of the many Defense Contractors would exceed $100 million. 
     The Commission further recommended that these funds would be 
     better spent to augment the Defense Security Service's 
     National Industrial Security Program and to provide at least 
     some of the wherewithal for expediting the personnel security 
     process for industry. The threats we face are not from people 
     breaking into locked containers, but rather from computer 
     network attacks, signal intercepts, and security cleared 
     insiders who compromise national security.
       After careful consideration, Secretary Cohen earlier this 
     year concluded that ``retrofitting industry locks would 
     impose a large expense on taxpayers without a commensurate 
     security benefit,'' and so advised Congress in his letter of 
     January 18, 2000.
       We understand and share your desire to improve the physical 
     security of national defense information and will continue to 
     work toward that goal.
           Sincerely,
                                                    ------ ------.
                                            (For Arthur L. Money).

     

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