Occasionally I check out the Democrats Senate website. As informative as the Daily Kos is, I like to read various Democratic Party websites and see what they have going on.
Reid's letter to President Bush on the administration's security failure struck a nerve with me. I think Reid is right on with this talking point and other Democrats need to jump on the bandwagon.
Here is a section of the letter:
Repeated failures at numerous government agencies have caused the disclosure of the personal or medical information of government employees, members of the military, veterans, and ordinary Americans. Your Administration has not seen fit to respond, however, and for the last year the position of Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Cyber Security has remained vacant. In fact, the previous official in charge of cyber security resigned in protest due to your Administration's persistent failure to attend to this critical security issue. Shockingly, the acting Assistant Secretary has been a lawyer with no background in computer security who has questionable business ties to institutions that do business with the office he is supposed to manage.
Identity fraud is a huge issue for people. The goverment is being way to lackadaisical in their handling of information. George Bush claims to be so concerned about protecting the citizens of this country. How about protecting their identities? Is this just going to be one more example of how corporate America does a better job at something than our own government?
Here's more of the letter:
Yesterday, the Department of Transportation reported that a laptop containing the personal information of approximately 133,000 drivers and pilots has gone missing. Three days ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported that it had lost a computer with the personal information of as many as 38,000 veterans. These disclosures come on the heels of previous failures at the VA that put the information of 26.5 million active duty, reserve, and retired military at risk. Over the course of your Administration, similarly grievous cyber security failures have occurred at the State Department, the FBI, the Energy Department, the Agriculture Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, with our military in Afghanistan, and in the United States Navy.
Look at that list of security failures! Go Reid! George Bush needs to be called out on these security failures.
I know there are bigger issues out there. But I give Harry Reid complete credit for addressing this issue. Time and time again their have been serious cyber security breaches and I cannot tell the George Bush is doing a damn thing about it.
Reid goes on to ask the tough questions:
Why has the position of Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Cyber Security not been filled, and what steps are you taking to ensure that it will be appropriately staffed at the soonest possible time?
What Administration-wide reviews are you undertaking and Administration-wide guidelines are you instituting to ensure these repeated failures do not continue?
What studies have you directed your Administration to undertake to ensure that all previous data disclosures and security breaches are accounted for, and that the damage caused by each is minimized?
http://democrats.senate.gov/...
In essence, are you doing anything about this Bush????
The Republicans claim to be all tough on terrorism and talk about how they are the party that can best protect the American people. Being careless with the private information of the American people is not protecting us at all!