House Panel Boosts Funds for Cybersecurity Research
By Andy Sullivan ; Thursday December 6 3:16 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A House of Representatives panel voted to dramatically boost federal spending on cybersecurity on Thursday, earmarking $880 million over five years for research, scholarships and other incentives.
The House Science Committee also voted to increase spending on high-tech research as a whole by 10 percent per year over the next five years, and require government agencies to coordinate their research efforts.
In a brief session that featured no debate, the Science Committee unanimously agreed to devote $105.7 million to new cybersecurity programs in fiscal year 2003, increasing each year to $229 million in fiscal 2007.
The new funds would come on top of the roughly $60 million the federal government currently devotes to network security.
The National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Standards and Technology would hand out the money in the form of research grants, fellowships and internships for students, and funds to improve undergraduate and master's degree programs in network security.
The hijacking attacks of September 11 heightened concerns about the vulnerability of the nation's telecommunications, Internet and other vital networks to computer-based attack.
In several hearings this fall, experts told Congress that the nation needed to spend more money to encourage long-term academic research in cybersecurity to supplement efforts by commercial software companies.
``The cybersecurity threat is real and potentially devastating,'' said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, the New York Republican who chairs the committee.
Boehlert said he hoped the bill would come to a vote in the full House next year. An aide said the bill has the backing of President Bush (news - web sites), but that Boehlert had received no specific commitments from House leadership.
The committee also voted to beef up an existing program that provides funding for broader high-tech research through several government agencies. The bill, which also passed by a voice vote, would increase funding for research into subjects like high-end computing and software design by 10 percent to $1.15 billion in fiscal 2003, up to $1.68 billion in fiscal 2007.
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