WASHINGTON -- President Bush quietly announced yesterday his plans to launch a program targeting terrorists and others who would seek to attack the United States via the Internet, according to lawmakers and budget documents.
Bush requested $154 million in preliminary funding for the initiative, which current and former government officials say is expected to become a seven-year, multibillion-dollar program to track threats in cyberspace on both government and private networks.
But lawmakers, who received briefings on the initiative only recently, continue to have many questions, and some remain concerned, about whether the program has adequate privacy protections.
There might be additional, perhaps classified, requests for money for the initiative, which would be run by the Department of Homeland Security but draw on the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies. A former government official familiar with the proposal said the total start-up costs that have been discussed are about $400 million.
The proposal "will enhance the security of the Government's civilian cyber networks and will further address emerging threats," Bush wrote to Congress as part of his request for additional money for cyber security and other counterterrorism measures.
The initiative would first develop a comprehensive cyber security program for the government and then do the same for private networks, the former government official said.
This announcement was the White House's first public suggestion of the highly classified program, known to some internally as the "Cyber Initiative." Congressional aides said they were told in a secret briefing Monday that the money requested yesterday was start-up funding for the initiative.
At the White House, spokesman Sean Kevelighan would say only that the money would be used for "increased monitoring capabilities, as well as to increase the security of our networks."
The Sun first disclosed the program in September. Plans for the initiative call for an effort led by the Homeland Security Department with significant support from the NSA and other intelligence agencies, which have more extensive experience in cyber security matters, according to current and former officials familiar with the program.
In plans under discussion, the number of people who would staff the initiative has been in the range of 1,000 to 2,000.
