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Six years after President Bush called for a national strategy to secure the nation's information infrastructure, the task is far from complete, according to recent congressional testimony.

For instance, the Government Accountability Office, a congressional investigatory agency, in 2006 made nine recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security to aid recovery of the Internet following a major disruption. The department has only implemented two of them. "To date, an integrated public/private plan for Internet recovery does not exist," David Powner, GAO's director of information technology management issues testified on March 10.

There is so much improvement in cybersecurity to be made, that a GAO-convened panel of experts recently issued 12 recommendations that start at the basics: "Develop a national strategy that clearly articulates strategic objectives, goals and priorities."

The panel also recommended establishing White House responsibility and accountability for leading a national cybersecurity policy, instead of the Department of Homeland Security. "DHS has not met expectations and has not provided the high-level leadership needed to raise cybersecurity to a national focus," according to the expert panel.

Powner's complete testimony and the panel recommendations are available in a new GAO report, "National Cybersecurity Strategy: Key Improvements are Needed to Strengthen the Nation's Posture." Dated March 10, the report is available at gao.gov.

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