However, U.S. federal agencies, much less those of other states, are not optimally organized to facilitate effective communication and information sharing. Transnational threats often directly or indirectly affect the U.S. information infrastructure, which is primarily controlled by the private sector. It is in the interest of U.S. national security for government agencies to work with the private sector to gain legitimate access to essential electronic hardware and software. The private sector, however, is extremely reluctant to enter into a public-private partnership for two reasons. First, it fears increased government regulation.
Information truly is power in today s economy.
Members of the private sector want to vie for information power advantages without the constraints of cumbersome governmental regulation. Second and more importantly, government regulation may expose commercial enterprise vulnerabilities to information attacks. That can easily result in catastrophic business losses as customer and investor confidence in the victimized enterprise plummets. Furthermore, effective government regulation is made more challenging by the drain of information expertise from the public sector brought on by highly competitive salaries offered by the private sector. Just as criminal organizations are forming flexible, reactive networks, the federal government needs to break interagency barriers and pursue fundamental restructuring of the national capability to prevent and, when necessary, respond to transnational threats.