Clinton Declares War on 'Cyber-Terrorism'

["Aaron T. Wells" <wellsa@conceptsnet.com>]

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Clinton Declares War on 'Cyber-Terrorism'

President Clinton this morning announced new efforts to combat
"cyber-terrorism," including college scholarships for those who will
study ways to prevent people from using computers to create havoc.

"Our critical systems, from power structures to air traffic control, are
connected and run by computers," the president told reporters at the
White House. "We must make those systems more secure so that America can
be more secure."

He announced "a national plan to defend America's cyberspace, the
product of a three-year effort." It includes a $91 million spending
request in the budget proposal he will present to Congress next month.
Clinton called it "part of an overall $2 billion budget to help meet our
security challenges" in high-tech areas.

The president said his program would "offer college scholarships to
students in the field of computer security, in exchange for their public
service afterward." It also calls for a new Institute for Information
Infrastructure Protection, which he said "will bring to bear the finest
computer scientists and engineers from the private sector, from
universities and from other research facilities."

"There has never been a time like this in which we have the power to
create knowledge and the power to create havoc, and both those powers
rest in the same hands," Clinton said. While thwarting would-be
terrorists, he said, he also wants to safeguard the privacy rights of
individuals and businesses.

"It is essential that we do not undermine liberty in the name of
liberty," he said. "I hope that … we will work together to ensure that
information technology will create unprecedented prosperity in the 21st
century in an atmosphere and environment that makes all Americans more
secure."


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