The rapid pace of technological change necessitates a correspondingly robust response mechanism. I urge this Committee to champion this important issue as the federal response to the growing cyberthreat is constructed. I leave you with this thought. You will see total transformations of the way business and government is conducted, internally and externally. A failure to change to meet these new challenges is to risk the destruction that all revolutions bring in their wake.
Proactive action is the route to survival.
We have heard a great deal in recent months about the potential of a digital divide that is developing between the computer haves and the computer have nots. I believe there is another digital divide that is growing between the American government and its citizens. If this Committee s efforts do not move forward in changing the culture of inertia, there is real danger that the digital divide that exists between the government and the private sector will only widen. We cannot afford a situation where the governed feel that their government is out of touch and increasingly irrelevant to their lives. By stepping up to the plate and tackling computer security with an innovative, bold approach the Thompson-Lieberman bill significantly boosts the chances of reversing the current bureaucratic approach to a dynamic problem.