New Bill Would Call for National Cybersecurity Advisor

DailyTech
New proposed U.S. Senate legislation aims to broaden the cybersecurity focus of the U.S. government, as there is growing concern the federal government is ill-equipped to battle against cyber threats from China and Eastern Europe.Assigning an official White House cybersecurity "czar" to oversee cybersecurity is the most important aspect of the new bill proposed by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D, WV) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R, ME). They both hope to reduce the nation's "vulnerability to cyber crime, global cyber espionage, and cyber attacks." Furthermore, the czar would have the ability to temporarily disable computer networks -- even privately operated networks -- if they're under attack, or have been hijacked.
"Currently, the US has systems in place to protect our nation's secrets and government networks against cyber espionage," the two Senators said in a statement. "However, another great vulnerability our country faces is the threat to protect our private sector critical infrastructure -- banking, utilities, air/rail/auto traffic control, telecommunications -- from disruptive cyber attacks that could literally shut down our way of life."

More...