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Cybersecurity Advantage

Alt cause to failure

No incentive to protect cyber infrastructure – lack of understanding


Sales 13 – Associate Professor of Law at the Syracuse University College of Law, former professor at George Mason University School of Law (Nathan A., Northwestern University Law Review, “REGULATING CYBER-SECURITY”, file:///C:/Users/Alana%20Levin/Downloads/SSRN-id2035069.pdf, //11)

The poor state of America’s cyber-defenses is partly due to the fact that the analytical framework used to understand the problem is incomplete. The law and policy of cyber-security are under theorized. Virtually all legal scholarship approaches cyber-security from the standpoint of the criminal law or the law of armed conflict.19 Given these analytical commitments, it is inevitable that academics and lawmakers will tend to favor law enforcement and military solutions to cyber-security problems. These are important perspectives, but cyber-security scholarship need not run in such narrow channels. An entirely new approach is needed. Rather than conceiving of private firms merely as possible victims of cyber-crimes, or as potential targets in cyber-conflicts, we should think of them in regulatory terms.20 Many companies that operate critical infrastructure tend to underinvest in cyber-defense because of negative externalities, positive externalities, free riding, and public goods problems—the same sorts of challenges the modern administrative state encounters in a variety of other contexts.

Circumvention

NSA will circumvent cyber restrictions


Kehl 14 – policy analyst at New America’s Open Technology Institute (Danielle, Open Technology Institute, “Surveillance Costs: The NSA’s Impact on the Economy, Internet Freedom & Cybersecurity”, July 2014, https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/Surveilance_Costs_Final.pdf, //11)

One tactic for quietly scooping up vast amounts of data is to target the infrastructure around networks and network providers, including the undersea fiber optic cables that carry global Internet traffic from one continent to another. Leaked documents reveal that in February 2013 the NSA successfully hacked the SEA-ME-WE-4 cable system, which originates in France and connects Europe to the Middle East and North Africa.307 Reports also suggest that the NSA has hacked fiber optic links connecting Google and Facebook data centers located outside of the United States.308 For access to messages that are encrypted, the NSA maintains an internal database through its Key Provisioning Service which has encryption keys for a wide array of commercial products. A separate unit within the agency, the Key Recovery Service, exists for the purpose of trying to obtain keys that are not already a part of the NSA’s database. According to The New York Times, “How keys are acquired is shrouded in secrecy, but independent cryptographers say many are probably collected by hacking into companies’ computer servers, where they are stored.”309

FCC Mechanism

At: FCC expertise

FCC sucks – evolving marketplace and lack of interbureau coordination undermine transparency and expertise


GAO, 9 – United States Government Accountability Office (“FCC Management: Improvements Needed in Communication, Decision-Making Processes, and Workforce Planning”, December 2009, Google Ebook, //11)

What GAO Found



FCC consists of seven bureaus, with some structured along functional lines, such as enforcement, and some structured along technical lines, such as wireless telecommunications and media. Although there have been changes in FCC’s bureau structure, developments in the telecommunications industry continue to create issues that span the jurisdiction of several bureaus. However, FCC lacks written procedures for ensuring the interbureau collaboration and communication occurs. FCC’s reliance on informal coordination has created confusion among the bureaus regarding who is responsible for handling certain issues. In addition, the lack of written procedures has allowed various chairmen to determine the extent to which interbureau collaboration and communication occurs. This has led to instances in which FCC’s analyses lacked input from all relevant staff. Although FCC stated that is relies on its functional offices, such as its engineering and strategic planning offices, to address crosscutting issues, stakeholders have expressed concerns regarding the chairman’s ability to influence these offices.

Weaknesses in FCC’s processes for collecting and using information also raise concerns regarding the transparency and informed nature of FCC’s decision-making process. FCC has five commissioners, one of which is designated chairman. FCC lacks internal policies regarding commissioner access to staff analyses during the decision-making process, and some chairmen have restricted this access. Such restrictions may undermine the group decision-making process and impact the quality of the FCC’s decisions. In addition, GAO identified weaknesses in FCC’s processes for collecting public input on proposed rules. Specifically, FCC rarely includes the text of a proposed rule when issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to collect public comment on a rule change, although some studies have noted that providing proposed rule text helps focus public input. Additionally, FCC has developed rules regarding contacts between external parties and FCC officials (known as ex parte contacts) that require the external party to provide FCC a summary of the new information presented for inclusion in the public record. However, several stakeholders told us that FCC’s ex parte process allows vague ex parte summaries and that in some cases, ex parte contacts can occur just before a commission vote, which can limit stakeholders’ ability to determine what information was provided and to rebut or discuss that information.

FCC faces challenges in ensuring it has the expertise needed to adapt to a changing marketplace. For example, a large percentage of FCC’s economists and engineers are eligible to retire in 2011, and FCC faces difficulty recruiting top candidates. FCC has initiated recruitment and development programs and has begun evaluating its workforce needs. GAO previously noted that strategic workforce planning should include identifying needs, developing strategies to address these needs, and tracking progress. However, FCC’s Strategic Human Capital Plan does not establish targets for its expertise needs, making it difficult to assess the agency’s progress in addressing its needs.


FCC expertise is hype – their evidence is political self-praise


Engebreston, 13 – Executive Editor of Telecompetitor, former editor-in-chief of Telephony Magazine and America’s Network Magazine (Joan, “Catch-Up Talk with Blair Levin Yields Some Surprises”, Telecompetitor 5/6/13, http://www.telecompetitor.com/catch-up-talk-with-blair-levin-yields-some-surprises/, //11)

***Blair Levin = former FCC chief of staff

Currently with the Aspen Institute, Blair Levin headed up the team at the FCC that three years ago created the National Broadband Plan with the goal of spurring broadband deployment. But in a speech last week, Levin said, “The FCC is becoming more of a political institution and less an expert agency.”

Like other D.C. political institutions, he said, the commission is “increasingly caught up in a one-note narrative . . . of self-praise rather than focusing on providing the expertise and analytic agility necessary to adjust programs to provide bandwidth abundance to constituencies it is meant to serve.”

In an interview with Telecompetitor on Friday, Levin directed further criticism at the FCC’s self-praise. “I would never invest in a company that had a CEO who behaved that way,” he said.

Work undone



It was up to the FCC to implement the ideas recommended in the National Broadband Plan – and the way Levin sees it, much of that work has been left undone.

One of the most important pieces of information to emerge out of the NBP was that the majority of the homes that can’t get broadband are in areas served by the nation’s largest price cap carriers – and that hasn’t changed much, he told Telecompetitor on Friday.

Although he noted that CenturyLink is doing some upgrades, he said “AT&T is doing zero, and Verizon sold some lines to Frontier but they’re not doing anything with what they held on to.” (AT&T would disagree with Levin’s assessment, having touted its rural network upgrade plans last fall. But it’s true that those plans rely heavily on mobile broadband rather than a fixed offering.)

Levin also argued in his recent speech that the FCC essentially “punted” on “the critical issue of contribution reform.” In other words, the FCC’s new broadband-focused Universal Service program appears to be doomed to be funded as a percentage of carriers’ long-distance voice revenues – a methodology that is becoming increasingly unsustainable as long-distance voice revenues decline.

When I asked Levin what he’d like to see happen on that front, however, he declined to offer a specific suggestion. Instead, he said the commission should pull a lot of ideas together and run a proceeding. (The FCC has avoided taking even such an apparently innocuous step – perhaps because it would then be expected to take action and, politically, it is afraid of taking any action on that controversial issue.)

Singing a different tune?

When the NBP was released, Levin made some enemies among rural telcos because of some of the Universal Service reforms proposed in the plan. The fundamental point of contention was that in targeting to bring broadband to unserved price cap territories without increasing the size of the fund, the corollary was that rate of return carriers would have to get by on less.

Over the past three years, the FCC has implemented some of the reforms proposed in the NBP – although not exactly as the NBP proposed. And some readers might be surprised by one of the things Levin said in another recent speech.



“In those areas where the fund was already driving broadband investment, reform has stalled progress,” he said in Madison, Wisc. on April 4. He even cited a recent survey of small rural phone companies showing that 69% of respondents have cancelled or postponed investments due to uncertainty about restructuring.


Xt: no written procedures

Lack of interagency procedures gut efficiency


GAO, 9 – United States Government Accountability Office (“FCC Management: Improvements Needed in Communication, Decision-Making Processes, and Workforce Planning”, December 2009, p.16-17, Google Ebook, //11)

FCC’s lack of written policies and its reliance on informal interbureau coordination to address issues that span beyond the purview of a single bureau can result in inefficiencies. For example, one FCC official told us that while FCC was conducting a merger review of two major media companies, the review process was delayed because of confusion regarding which bureau was responsible. Since each of the companies merging had assets regulated by different FCC bureaus, it was unclear which bureau was the designated lead and would be responsible for a specific portion of the merger review process. Although the chairman eventually designated a lead bureau, the time it took for this to happen slowed down the process, and the overall lack of coordination made the process less efficient. Our International Control and Management Evaluation Tool emphasizes the importance of internal communications, specifically noting the need for mechanisms that allow for the easy flow of information down, across, and up the organization, including communications between functional activities.

Xt: no expertise

Funding constraints complicate the hiring process – difficult to update staff and expertise


GAO, 9 – United States Government Accountability Office (“FCC Management: Improvements Needed in Communication, Decision-Making Processes, and Workforce Planning”, December 2009, p.41, Google Ebook, //11)

FCC faces multiple challenges in recruiting new staff. One challenge FCC faces (similar to other federal agencies) is the inability to offer more competitive pay. Additionally, not having an approved budget and working under congressional continuing resolutions has hampered hiring efforts for engineers and economists. Competing priorities may also delay internal decisions regarding hiring. For example, OSP has not received the budgetary allocation for hiring new economists in time for the annual American Economic Association meeting for at least the past 4 years. This meeting is the primary recruiting venue for recently-graduated economists. When the FCC is not able to hire economists at the annual meeting, the agency potentially loses out on skilled employees who have been offered employment elsewhere. FCC officials told us that OSP has received permission to attend the 2010 American Economic Association meeting and hire at least one economist.

Random

Zero Days

Disclosure of zero-days undermines non-proliferation efforts and there’s no spillover


Sanger 14 – chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times (David E., New York Times, “Obama Lets N.S.A. Exploit Some Internet Flaws, Officials Say”, 4/12/14, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/us/politics/obama-lets-nsa-exploit-some-internet-flaws-officials-say.html?_r=0)

The N.S.A. made use of four “zero day” vulnerabilities in its attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites. That operation, code-named “Olympic Games,” managed to damage roughly 1,000 Iranian centrifuges, and by some accounts helped drive the country to the negotiating table.

Not surprisingly, officials at the N.S.A. and at its military partner, the United States Cyber Command, warned that giving up the capability to exploit undisclosed vulnerabilities would amount to “unilateral disarmament” — a phrase taken from the battles over whether and how far to cut America’s nuclear arsenal.



“We don’t eliminate nuclear weapons until the Russians do,” one senior intelligence official said recently. “You are not going to see the Chinese give up on ‘zero days’ just because we do.” Even a senior White House official who was sympathetic to broad reforms after the N.S.A. disclosures said last month, “I can’t imagine the president — any presidententirely giving up a technology that might enable him some day to take a covert action that could avoid a shooting war.”

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