You want it, Al, you got it!

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 17, 1999 | by John Elvin

The Department of Defense, or DOD -- which, unlike Vice President Al Gore, actually did create the Internet -- is considering disconnecting from that vulnerable electronic monstrosity. Lt. Gen. William Campbell, the Army's director of information systems for command, control and communications, was quoted in Federal Computer Week as saying that the military doesn't "have a prayer or a hope of defending ourselves" against relentless hacker attacks "unless we move large portions of the (military domain) onto a protected network."

Campbell said all four armed services, as well as the DOD, are looking into ways to protect the Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network, where much of the DOD's day-to-day business is conducted. "Vulnerabilities are of such a magnitude that to ignore them would be a dereliction of duty," Campbell said in a recent speech to a military audience.

The Federal Computer Week article quoted other defense officials as saying that the military had moved too rapidly in opening Websites to the general public. Some sites recently have been re-restricted to military use but remain vulnerable to hackers who obtain access using tools and information supplied by the DOD to contractors.