29 June 1997
Source: Excerpted from House Report 105-132 on Defense Authorization
for 1998, Title II -- Research, Development, Text and Evaluation:

http://jya.com/hr105-132-II.txt

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Information systems technology, information superiority, and
        information security

    The budget request contained approximately $10.3 billion
for Department of Defense information systems and information
technology, including $544.4 million for information systems
and information technology research, development, test, and
evaluation. Of that amount, $306.0 million was for information
security research, development, test, and evaluation.
    The committee views with great interest the development of
information systems technology and the increasing use of, and
dependence on information systems in the Department of Defense
and in the nation as a whole. Rapidly advancing information-
based technologies and an increasingly competitive global
environment have thrust information into center stage in
society, government, and warfare. Increasingly, complex
information systems are being integrated into traditional
military operational disciplines such as mobility, logistics,
command, control, communications, and intelligence, and
increased emphasis is being placed on the use of the commercial
information infrastructure.
    The committee believes that the application of information
and information technology in our military forces, combined
with the supporting infrastructure in the Department of
Defense, and our national life will offer greatly increased
capabilities, but also will require that the Administration
begin to treat information technology as a strategic resource
vital to our national security. Inherent in these new
capabilities, information technology also creates potentially
serious vulnerabilities that could be exploited by an
adversary, as the military and other elements of national power
become increasingly dependent upon information systems and
information capabilities. The vulnerability of information
infrastructures to attack and the linkage between information
systems and the traditional critical infrastructures (such as
the electrical power system) have increased the scope and
potential of the information warfare threat.
    The promise of information technology as a key ``enabler''
to achieve superiority on future battlefields, the
vulnerabilities that information technology brings, and how
the Department of Defense plans to protect against these vulnerabilities
provided the focus for a committee hearing in March 1997. The committee
also heard testimony on the findings and recommendations of the 1996
Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare-Defense. The
task force report cited a robust information infrastructure as critical
to the future effectiveness of U.S. military forces and the need for
extraordinary action to deal with the present and emerging challenges
of defending against possible information warfare attacks on the United
States.
    The committee commends the efforts taken to develop and
institutionalize the use of common information architectures
within the Department of Defense, to improve policies and
management practices, and to create a Department-wide
environment that promotes interoperability and integration
among the military services and defense agencies. The committee
notes the efforts that are underway to protect and assure the
integrity of the Defense and national information
infrastructures. The committee also notes that the budget
request for the information systems security program in PE
33140G includes an increase of $56.6 million above the fiscal
year 1997 funding level.
    The committee supports the maintenance of a robust
information systems security research and development program.
Accordingly, the committee recommends the following increases
to the budget request:
          (1) $2.0 million in PE 63006A for tactical internet
        command and control protection;
          (2) $6.7 million in PE 65604A for information
        operations/warfare survivability analysis of command,
        control, communications, and computers/information
        electronic warfare systems;
          (3) $1.6 million in PE 33150A for development and
        application of information protection measures for the
        Army's component of the global command and control
        systems for the U.S. European Command; and
          (4) $2.7 million in PE 33140F for the Air Force
        information protection program.
    The committee directs the Secretary of Defense to report to
the Congressional defense committees with the submission of the
fiscal year 1999 budget, an assessment of the progress in the
Department's information systems security program that
addresses the current status of the program, specific actions
being taken on the recommendations of the 1996 Defense Science
Board Task Force on Information Warfare-Defense, and additional
actions that should be taken to assure the increased security
and integrity of the Defense information infrastructure. The
report shall also address measures necessary to assure the
integrity of those elements of the national information
infrastructure and critical national infrastructure on which
the Defense information infrastructure depends, and
identification of any additional resources and legislative
authority which may be required.

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