Cybersecurity report said to offer few details

The Obama administration's release Friday of a report on the state of the federal government's cybersecurity posture will not offer specific recommendations for action, sources who reviewed the document said today.

The paper will call for the creation of a cybersecurity coordinator who would be housed in the National Security Council but report to the National Economic Council, they said. The report does not state how senior the individual will be within the White House or to whom the official would report.

The roughly 40-page document emphasizes the importance of building public-private partnerships to safeguard communications networks and creating incentives for threat information-sharing between government and industry entities, sources said.

The report includes language intended to sharpen the government's IT procurement processes to drive greater security; underscores the need for more federal cybersecurity research and development; and calls for the cultivation of a highly skilled cybersecurity workforce in and outside of government.

The report lacks any mandates for heavy-handed Internet regulation, but it states the government has the ultimate responsibility to protect all IT networks, sources said. That vague language should satisfy technology watchdogs who worry the administration might take a cue from sweeping cybersecurity legislation introduced this year by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Some groups claimed the bill would give the president the power to shut down the Internet in the event of a large-scale cyber attack.

"It's largely a statement of principles and goals, not a full plan," one source said. "The report has some really tough talk about dangers faced on the Internet but its recommendations are very general."

Releasing such high-level language will likely lead to internal squabbles as administration officials begin the implementation phase, another source said. "Every one of these recommendations will have to be unpacked, and that's where the rubber will hit the road."