1 February 2002 The Honorable Neil Abercrombie Dear Rep. Abercrombie: On behalf of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA), I would like to ask for your support of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act (H.R. 3394), legislation reported by the House Science Committee. This bill would authorize $880 million over five years to establish cyber security research programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Hearings held by the Science Committee on October 10th and 17th revealed a shocking level of vulnerability in America's vital information infrastructure. We were particularly disturbed by the frank assessment of the National Academy of Engineering President, Dr. William Wulf that, "[America has] virtually no research base on which to build truly secure [information] systems and only a tiny cadre of academic, long-term, basic researchers who are thinking deeply about these problems." We thereby strongly endorse his call for "ensuring stable, long-term funding, at whatever level will be most effective" to address the shortfalls in research and attract the best and brightest talent available to this critical field. We commend Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert and Ranking Member Ralph Hall for shining a spotlight on these issues, and we feel that their bill, H.R.3394, takes a big step towards addressing them. IEEE-USA stands ready and willing to help advance this legislation, and offers the considerable expertise of its Technical Policy Council members and other resources as you may require. If we can be of further assistance, please contact Bill Williams at 202-530-8331, or at Bill.Williams@ieee.org. Thank you for your consideration. LeEarl A. Bryant, P.E. (Sample of Letter Sent to House of Representatives) | Top of Page | Policy Log | Public Policy Forum | IEEE-USA | Last Update:
18 January 2002 Copyright ©
2002, The
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