On Cybersecurity: Two Scoops of Perspective

New York Times | September 29, 2019

Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, calls spending huge amounts on the effort “a tragic waste.” Another urges creation of a cabinet-level agency to deal with threats.

To the Editor:

Glenn S. Gerstell’s article identifies the magnitude of the digital juggernaut and brilliantly lays out the difficulty of the challenge. It is this very complexity that underscores the need for a cabinet-level agency dedicated to cybersecurity to ensure coordination and resilience in the face of threats.

The Department of Homeland Security was created after the 9/11 tragedy, coordinating 180,000 employees working in the country’s intelligence, defense and law enforcement agencies. Similarly, in the 1970s, as Americans dealt with an energy crisis, President Jimmy Carter created the Energy Department to consolidate American energy policy and ensure a consistent supply of energy and protect the country from threats to our economy and readiness.

If desperate times call for desperate measures, then surely risky and rapidly changing times call for measures that are resolute. The United States must prioritize cybersecurity, just as we do homeland security and energy. Let’s not wait until the revolution is lost.

Ray Rothrock
San Jose, Calif.
The writer is chief executive of RedSeal, a cybersecurity company, and the author of “Digital Resilience: Is Your Company Ready for the Next Cyber Threat?”