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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 7401. Findings
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Revolutionary advancements in computing and communications
technology have interconnected government, commercial,
scientific, and educational infrastructures - including critical
infrastructures for electric power, natural gas and petroleum
production and distribution, telecommunications, transportation,
water supply, banking and finance, and emergency and government
services - in a vast, interdependent physical and electronic
network.
(2) Exponential increases in interconnectivity have facilitated
enhanced communications, economic growth, and the delivery of
services critical to the public welfare, but have also increased
the consequences of temporary or prolonged failure.
(3) A Department of Defense Joint Task Force concluded after a
1997 United States information warfare exercise that the results
"clearly demonstrated our lack of preparation for a coordinated
cyber and physical attack on our critical military and civilian
infrastructure".
(4) Computer security technology and systems implementation
lack -
(A) sufficient long term research funding;
(B) adequate coordination across Federal and State government
agencies and among government, academia, and industry; and
(C) sufficient numbers of outstanding researchers in the
field.
(5) Accordingly, Federal investment in computer and network
security research and development must be significantly increased
to -
(A) improve vulnerability assessment and technological and
systems solutions;
(B) expand and improve the pool of information security
professionals, including researchers, in the United States
workforce; and
(C) better coordinate information sharing and collaboration
among industry, government, and academic research projects.
(6) While African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans
constitute 25 percent of the total United States workforce and 30
percent of the college-age population, members of these
minorities comprise less than 7 percent of the United States
computer and information science workforce.
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