Last week, the Senate introduced the United States Information and Communications Enhancement Act of 2009, also known as U.S. ICE in an effort to reform FISMA.
FISMA had long been characterized as waste of time with a focus primarily on compliance and paperwork, with very little focus on security. Several high profile breaches over the years since FISMA was enacted have brought Federal information systems security back into the spotlight, encouraging Congress to reexamine the issue.
The U.S. ICE Act will create the National Office of Cyberspace, headed by a presidential appointee, and will be responsible for, "coordinating issues relating to achieving assured, reliable, secure, and survivable global information and communications infrastructure and related capabilities."
According to a recent presentation by Erik Hopkins, the goals of the U.S. ICE legislation will
-
Recognized global interconnectedness
-
Increased situational awareness by leverage the resources of the entire Federal government
-
Greater accountability within agencies
-
Enhanced monitoring, detection, and responsive
-
Elimination of distinction between NSS/ NNSSS
-
Effective partnership between public demand and private supply
The bill is available for download in PDF format from here.
