Terminal Compromise, Winn Schwartau [sight word books txt] 📗
- Author: Winn Schwartau
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small business as surely as we must defend our international
competitiveness of industrial leaders.
“The wealth of this country was once in steel mills, in auto
plants, in manufacturing. The products built by the United
States were second to none. Made in the U.S.A. was a proud
label, one that carried a premium worldwide. Our technological
leadership has never been in question and has been the envy of
the world for over 200 years. Franklin, Fulton and Edison. The
Wright Brothers, Westinghouse, Ford. As a nation the Manhattan
Project reaffirmed our leadership. Then Yaeger and the speed of
sound. The transistor. DNA decoded. The microchip. The Moon.
The computer.
“Yet there was a subtle shift occurring that escaped all but the
most vigilant. We were making less things, our concentration on
manufacturing was slowly shifting to an emphasis on technology.
Communications, computers. Information processing. No longer
are cities built around smokestacks spewing forth the byproducts
of the manufacturing process. Instead, industrial parks sprout
in garden-like settings that encourage mental creativity.
Fifteen percent of the American workforce no longer drive to the
office. They commute via their computers at home.
“The excitement of the breakneck pace of technology masked the
danger in which we were placing ourselves. Without realizing it,
a bulk of this nation’s tangible wealth was being moved to the
contents of a computer’s memory. We took those first steps
toward computerization hesitantly; we didn’t trust the computer.
It was unfamiliar, foreign, alien. But when we embraced the
computer, we unquestioningly entrusted it with out most precious
secrets.
“Unlike the factory though, with the fence, the gates, the dogs,
the alarms and the night guards, we left our computers unprotect-
ed. Growing bigger and faster computers took precedence over
protecting their contents.
“We were warned, many times. But, as I said earlier, neither
your government nor its constituency heeded the warnings with
enough diligence. Protection of government information became a
back-burner issue, a political hot cake, that in budget crunches,
was easy to overlook. Overclassification of information became
the case of the ‘The Spy Who Cried Wolf.’ The classification
system has been abused and clearly does not serve us well. At my
direction it will receive a thorough overhaul.
“Personal privacy has been ignored. Your government is in pos-
session of huge amounts of data and yet there is no effort at
protecting the non-classified privacy of individuals in our
computers.
“The private sector faces another dilemma. The unresponsiveness
of the Federal Government to the protection of its own informa-
tion did not set a good example for industry, and their comput-
ers, too, remained vulnerable.
The President paused from reading his speech to pour a glass of
ice water.
“Nothing can stop the fact that the United States is under at-
tack. Nothing can change the fact that the attack cannot be
turned away. And nothing can change the fact that America will
suffer significant disruptions and inconvenience for some time.
But we can minimize the damage. We can prepare for the inevita-
ble obstacles we will face.
“The poison that Mr. Homosoto put into the American information
society is the equivalent of electronic biological warfare. He
has senselessly and vengefully struck out against the United
States in a manner that I describe as an act of war.
“In order to deal with this real threat to the security of the
United States of America, I have taken several steps that are
designed to assist in weathering the storm.
“First, I am assigning the Director of the National Security
Agency to coordinate all efforts at defending against and mini-
mizing the effects of the current crisis. The NSA has the expe-
rience and resources, and the support of this President to manage
an operation of this complexity and importance. In addition,
representatives from GCHQ in the United Kingdom and other ITSEC
members from Germany, France and Holland will coordinate European
defensive strategies.
“Second, I am activating the following four groups to assist the
NSA in their efforts. ECCO, the Emergency Computer Crisis Organ-
ization, has acted as an advisor to law enforcement agencies
across the country and has been instrumental in providing the
technical support to the FBI and the Secret Service in their
computer crime investigations.
“CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team was created by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as an outgrowth of the
1988 INTERNET Worm incident. Carnegie Mellon University where
CERT is headquartered has donated the facilities and staff of
their Software Engineering Institute to deal with the invasion of
our computers.
“The Defense Data Network Security Coordination Center was based
at the Stanford Research Institute by the Defense Communications
Agency to coordinate attacks against non-classified computer
systems.
“Lastly, CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability manages
computer crises for the Department of Energy at Lawrence Liver-
more Laboratories.
“These are the organizations and the people who will guide us
through the coming adversities. It is they who are responsible
to insure that America never again finds itself so vulnerable.
So open to attack. So helpless in our technological Achilles
Heel.
“The organizations I mentioned, and the government itself have
not yet been tested in a crisis of significant magnitude. This
is their maiden voyage, so to speak, and it is incumbent on us,
the American people, to make their job as easy as we can by
offering our complete cooperation.
“And, tonight, that is what I am asking of you. Your assistance.
Your government cannot do it alone. Nor can small localized
individual efforts expect to be successful against an army of
invaders so large. We must team together, act as one, for the
good of the entire country. From the big business with 100,000
computers to the millions of men, women and children with a home
computer; from the small businessman to the schools, we need to
come together against the common enemy: the invasion of our
privacy and way of life.
“Americans come together in a crisis, and my fellow Americans, we
face a crisis. Let me tell you what my advisors tell me. They
tell me without taking immediate drastic steps to prevent further
destruction of America’s information infrastructure, we face a
depression as great as the one of the 1930’s.
“They tell me that every computer in the country, most in Canada,
a significant number in England and other countries, can expect
to be attacked in some manner within two years. That represents
over 70 million casualties!
“The international financial and monetary system will come to a
halt and collapse. Financial trading as we know it will cease
and wild speculative fluctuations will dominate the world curren-
cy markets. America is already feeling the change since the ATM
networks were removed from service.
“As we have seen, the transportation facilities of this country,
and indeed the world, are totally dependent on computers and
therefore vulnerable. That is why today we take so seriously the
threats against the airlines. There is no choice but success.
Together, the American people must stand up to this threat and
not succumb to its effects.
“While your government has the resources to develop solutions to
the problems, it has not been within our power to mandate their
use in the private sector.
“We will need unity as never before, for the battleground is in
our homes, our schools, our streets and our businesses. The
children of this great country will have as much opportunity to
contribute as their parents will, and as the leaders of business
will. As we all will and all must.
“In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, the very structure of our
country is in imminent danger of collapse, and it is up to us,
indeed it is within our power, to survive. The sacrifices we
will be called upon to make may be great, but the alternative is
unacceptable.
“Indeed, this is a time where the American spirit is called upon
to shine, and shine brightly. Thank you, and God Bless the
United States of America.”
* Sunday, January 24 Scarsdale, New York“One fuckuva speech,” Tyrone Duncan said to Scott Mason who was
downing the last of a Coors Light. “You should be proud of
yourself.” They had watched the President’s speech on Scott’s
large screen TV.
“Ahhhh,” grunted Scott. “It’s almost anti-climatic.”
“How the hell can you say that?” Tyrone objected. “Isn’t this
what you’ve been trying to do? Get people to focus on the prob-
lem? Christ, you can’t do much more than a Presidential speech.”
“Oh, yeah,” agreed Scott cynically. “Everyone knows, but not a
damn thing’s gonna be done about it. Nothing. I don’t care what
the President says, nothing’s going to change.”
“You have become one cynical bastard. Even Congress is behind
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