It is largely the U.S. private sector's duty to address vulnerability by taking reasonable precautions in much the same way that society expects the private sector to take reasonable measures for safety and environmental protection. These relations and the nature of the responsibilities that are involved are explored in the Heritage Foundation study "Resiliency and Public-Private Partnerships to Enhance Homeland Security" by James Jay Carafano.

It is essential that the new Obama administration in the United States recognizes clearly the cybersecurity agenda facing it.

The first step in implementing this agenda must be to facilitate cross talk. There is a plethora of ongoing cybersecurity and cyber-warfare initiatives. The tendency of any new U.S. administration in Washington is to conduct grand reviews of existing efforts, issue sweeping strategies, centralize management, and reorganize operations and responsibilities.

That is a mistake. Such moves are as likely to stunt momentum and slow innovation as they are to achieve any efficiencies of operation. Instead, the Obama administration's first priority must be to facilitate cross talk among the members of the national "cyber team."

Today, those responsible for offensive cybersecurity measures -- for example, identifying and countering malicious actors -- have little contact, familiarity or collaboration with those working on "defensive" measures, and vice versa.

Likewise, agencies and organizations conducting covert activities have scant interaction with those engaged in public programs.

This must change. To close gaps, minimize duplication and overlap, facilitate joint action and build trust and confidence among members of the public-private team, establishing routine and consistent dialogue must be an immediate priority. This is a vital first step in building a community of professional cyber-strategic leaders.

The second step in implementing a truly effective cybersecurity strategy has to be research, research, research.

Building cyber-strategic leaders will be like building castles on sand unless the knowledge and skills imparted to them is based on comprehensive, practical and unbiased research. However, as a 2007 Computer Science and Telecommunications Board research report, "Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace," concluded, the national research and development program is wholly inadequate, and both traditional and unorthodox approaches will be necessary.

Part 10: Lessons of the report for closing the knowledge gap in U.S. government and private-sector cybersecurity

(James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is assistant director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and senior research fellow for national security and homeland security in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Davis Institute, at the Heritage Foundation. Eric Sayers is a research assistant in the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

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