Regina Dugan will become the first woman to head the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in its 51-year history, the Department of Defense announced today. Dugan takes the reins from acting director, Robert Leheny, who has been running the agency since Tony Tether stepped down in February 2009.
From the official press release:
“Regina Dugan is precisely the dynamic leader DARPA needs to open new technology frontiers and transition revolutionary technologies to serve our nations interests,” said Zachary J. Lemnios, director, Defense Research and Engineering. “I am delighted she will be leading this agency and look forward to working closely with her.”
Prior to this appointment, Dugan held several key positions in industry, most recently as president and chief executive officer of RedXDefense, LLC, which she co-founded in 2005, a company that develops defense against explosive threats. She has also served in senior executive positions in several additional companies in roles ranging from global sales and marketing to research and product development.
During her first tour at DARPA from January 1996 to May 2000, Dugan received the program manager of the year award for her leadership of the “Dogs Nose Program”, which was focused on the development of an advanced, field-portable system for detecting the explosive content of land mines. She is also the recipient of the deFleury Medal, the office of the secretary of defense award for exceptional service, and the award for outstanding achievement. She has participated in wide-ranging studies for the Defense Science Board, the Army Science Board, the National Research Council and Science Foundation, and currently sits on the Naval Research Advisory Committee and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Science and Technology Panel.
While Tether’s tenure with DARPA was the longest of any DARPA director, it also caused strain between the agency and the university research community — particularly the university computing research community — who felt that under his leadership, DARPA adopted policies that discouraged university participation in defense-related research. This blog has spilled a considerable number of electrons making that case as well. With the appointment of Dugan (and with someone familiar with the computing community in Lemnios as Director Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E)) it’s fair to say the community is optimistic some of those incredibly productive ties between university researchers and the agency will get restored. We’ll let you know how it progresses!
The House Science and Technology committee held a hearing last Thursday afternoon to asses the cybersecurity efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The committee reviewed the agencies’ current cybersecurity programs, asking the advice of private sector security experts on the role the federal government has in securing the private sector’s infrastructure, enhancing the monitoring of federal networks, and more clearly defining cybersercurity metrics. Called to testify were Mr. Greg Wilshusen, the Director of Information Security Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO); Mr. Mark Bregman, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Symantec Corportation; Mr. Scott Charney, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group; and Mr. Jim Harper, the Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute.
In his opening statement, Technology and Innovation Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) asked the witnesses what is required to implement the recommendations of the 60-day review. He praised the review’s call to develop metrics to improve program assessment, budgeting, research and development, and planning. He stressed, however, that the $830M request this year from NIST and DHS on cybersecurity efforts needs to used wisely.
The panelists were circumspect about the role of the new cybersecurity czar, warning against government taking too large a role by acting as a co-partner or regulator of industry. Government, they agreed, should set security policy, minimum goals and desired outcomes, as well as facilitate best practices to help agencies meet these goals.
Mr. Wilshusen pointed out that DHS has yet to fully satisfy its cybersecurity requirements. He recommended that DHS work to bolster cyber analysis and warning systems, improve infrastructure control systems, strengthen recovery ability, reduce organizational inefficiencies, and secure internal information systems.
Mr. Bregman higlighted the global nature of problems in cybersecurity, “We all are using the same hardware and software. We all share the risks of cybersecurity.” Bregman defined the role of DHS and NIST as agencies that provide strategic direction, coordination, and balance for the nation, as well as taking a prominent role in international cybersecurity.
In his opening testimony, Mr. Charney remarked, “Government must develop a model for managing its own security.” Charney supported the near-term action plan of the administration’s review, especially in areas where DHS and NIST can expand their capabilities to support government-wide policy, standards and oversight of cybersecurity.
Mr. Harper responded to the review by expressing his concern with threat exaggeration that may lead to policies that supress competition and jeopardize civil liberties. Government, he stated, is a large consumer of cybersecurity goods, and can set high standards simply in its purchasing of products. Companies, he explained, should bear the burden of failure, not the government.
Mr. Wu’s question regarding public-private partnerships spurred a good deal of discussion. Charney, while agreeing with Mr. Harper regarding market liability, added that the market can supply security for the government in some cases and in other cases cannot. The government can fill in the gap by providing appropriate incentives. Charney acknowledged that there is some research industry cannot do because there is no economic model for it (e.g. the Internet). Mr. Bregman added that a clearly defined research agenda would stimulate investment in both the private and academic worlds. By aligning the research agendas of government agencies, a larger community of expertise can be created. Mr. Harper responded by stressing the importance of government and industry staying in their roles, and working separately in their respective areas.
Thursday’s hearing was the last of three hearings on cybersecurity in response to the administration’s Cyberspace Policy Review (pdf). For more information about the first hearing and second hearing, including testimony from the Computing Research Association board member Dr. Fred Schneider, see our earlier blog post.
An archived web cast of the hearing as well as copies of witness testimonies can be found on the House S&T Committee website.
Microsoft Research hosted its annual TechFair this Wednesday afternoon to show off some of the organization’s newest innovations to the DC policy crowd and the press. Held at the Newseum in Washington D.C., the event gave visitors an opportunity to chat with researchers about projets that addressed challenges in energy sustainability and efficiency, privacy, as well as personal and research productivity.
Microsoft Research provided 13 demonstrations that included an interactive omni-directional projector (see right), a system for social grouping of a user’s communication, an in-car dialogue system that allows natural language input, and a large scale spamming botnet detector called BotGraph.
This new system can uncover correlations among botnet activities by constructing a large scale user graph of major Web-email services and looks for patterns of use among “spam” accounts.
Social graphing appeared a number of times during the roadshow. One project used a social network graph in order to create a “trust” recommendation system by weighting the recommendations of direct relationships over indirect relationships. Two projects concerned themselves with the scientific research community, attempting to manage research workflows and make processing large amounts of data simpler and easier for scientists. Dryad, a distributed computing engine, simplifies the task of distributed applications on clusters of Windows computers. Trident makes it easy for scientists to design and manipulate workflows without having to rewrite the original algorithm (see below). Both systems will be offered as open-source software the research communiuty.
Another project, the Commute UX dialog system (see below), hopes to make a drivers interaction with the many devices they use in the car safer and easier to use. The system is able to activate song playlists, make phone calls, and read and send text messages through natural speech.
Also on display was PINQ, the organization’s attempt at making privacy preservation easy for privacy non-experts. Data analysis of private data is still possible since PINQ gives access to the metadata generated from a computation while hiding the content itself.
Microsoft holds their TechFair in hopes that their demonstrations will highlight their committment to innovative research as well as to their ongoing collaboration with top universities around the world.
The House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing Tuesday afternoon to review the response of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to the Administration’s recently released Cyberspace Policy Review (pdf). Near-term and mid-term action plans in the review raise a number of concerns relevant to the Committee’s work. These issues center around federal agency efforts in research and development, education, standards, information coordination and interagency collaboration. Witnesses called to testify were Ms. Cita Furlani, Director of the Information Technology Laboratory (NIST); Dr. Jeannette Wing, Assistant Director at the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (NSF); Dr. Robert Leheny, Acting Director (DARPA); Dr. Peter Fonash, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Office of Cyber Security Communications (DHS).
Technology and Innovation Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) opened the hearing by expressing his concern regarding previous federal cyber security efforts he believes were too “output oriented” rather than “outcome driven”, and was hopeful that the new administration will focus on achieving fewer breaches of federal systems, fewer cases of identity theft, as well as ensuring the security of smart grid systems and health IT systems. In his opening statement, he called upon witnesses to explain how each agency hopes to improve its cyber security in light of the Administration’s review.
Speaking next, Representative Adrian Smith (R-NE) drew attention to the agencies’ efforts in investing appropriately in cyber security research and development, securing the dot-gov domain as well as the critical infrastructure of the private sector.
Research and Science Education Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) emphasized the need for increased collaboration between public and private sectors to expose weaknesses in security and share breach information, as well as a multidisciplinary approach to cyber security in order to understand how we interact with computers and their information, calling people the “weakest link” in cyber security.
In their opening remarks, the witnesses discussed their responses to the review. They each expressed their appreciation that the review highlights the need for unclassified cyber security research and cyber security education. Ms. Furlani restated NIST’s mission to work with federal, state, local, private and academic institutions to develop the standards for information security. Dr. Wing, reminded the committee that many security measures implemented today are built on practices that were designed decades ago. Wing called for increased openness in the field of cyber security research. Looking ahead, she stated that the need to develop new practices based on current research could be filled by such an increase in the collaboration between industry and academic research institutions. Dr. Leheny echoed previous remarks that recognized the need for innovation to address cyber security threats. He also highlighted a DARPA project to develop a National Cyber Range that would have the ability to perform rigorous, realistic assessments of cyber security technology. In response to the review, Dr. Fonash described the role of the DHS in updating national security strategy, strengthening international partnerships, educating the public, and working with the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to prepare for plan for cyber incidents.
The member questions tended not to focus on any particular issue. Rep. Ehlers (R-MI) asked the panel how we can ensure security and at the same time preserve the freedom of unfettered communication. Rep. Ehlers’ question about the decreasing enrollment of computer science majors in the U.S. led to a discussion of the various programs each agency has in order to address the seeming decline in computer science interest among students. Dr. Wing, citing the CRA Taulbee Survey and expressed hope that the recent uptick in enrollments will continue. Dr. Leheny described two DARPA programs that focus on developing the attractiveness of computer science for undergraduates and untenured faculty. Rep. Lujan asked the witnesses how we can tap into the expertise of classified cyber security practices and research. Wing responded by explaining the formal process for agency collaboration under the National Coordinating Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) where unclassified IT research and development investments for thirteen Ferderal agencies are coordinated. Rep. Smith, while acknowledging the need for public and private partnership in cyber security, asked Dr. Fonash how the private sector can be compelled to follow standards. Fonash responded by stressing the importance of information sharing programs in order for industry to not only be aware of security standards, but that they know how to take the appropriate measures to secure their private data. When pressed about the need for legislation in this regard, Fonash replied that he couldn’t say yes or no at this time.
Tuesday’s hearing was the second of three hearings on cyber security. The first hearing was held by the Research and Science Education Subcommittee on the research needs of improved cyber security. Computing Research Association board member Dr. Fred Schneider testified about the state of cyber security education as well as the range of federally supported research. The final hearing regarding the cyber security activities of NIST and the DHS will be held next week.
An archived webcast of the hearing as well as copies of witness testimonies can be found on the House S&T Committee website.
Experts Warn of Technology Drain; seek federal intervention
Washington, May 21, 2009 Robotics have the potential within the next decade to become as prevalent as computers in daily American life, but the country lags behind others worldwide in recognizing the importance of this technology.
In a report released today, titled National Robotics Technology Roadmap, (link forthcoming) a group of 140 experts from industry, federal laboratories, and leading academic institutions assert the United States lags behind other countries in its ability to compete economically unless more investment is made in this technology.
To address this issue, the Roadmap urges Congress to increase spending in the FY 2010 budget and calls on the Obama administration to establish a high profile position at the White House to coordinate and integrate robotics policy throughout government.
Unfortunately, the United States lags behind other countries in recognizing the importance of robotics technology. While the European Union, Japan, Korea and the rest of the world have made significant R&D investments in robotics technology, the U.S. investment, outside unmanned systems for defense purposes, remains practically non-existent. Unless this situation can be addressed in the near future, the United States runs the risk of relinquishing its ability to globally compete in these emerging markets putting the nation at risk of having to rely on the rest of the world to provide a critical technology that our population will become increasingly dependent upon.
Robotics technology holds the potential to transform the future of the country. The next generation robotech industry will affect the lives of every American and have an enormous economic, social and political impact on our future. Human-robot interaction is central to many of the most exciting application of robots, including the use of medical robots, assistive robotics, prosthetics, rehabilitation, transportation, human augmentation, entertainment and education. Other applications on the horizon include factory and military robots, domestic service robots, a team of search and rescue robots and exoskeleton man-amplifiers the report explained.
The National Robotics Technology Roadmap was the result of an unprecedented level of cooperation among members of the business community and academia. This effort was led by the Computing Community Consortium and sponsored by the Computing Research Association via a grant from the National Science Foundation. The Computing Research Association is an association of more than 200 North American academic departments of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia engaging in basic computing research; and affiliated professional societies. For more information, visit www.cra.org.
The Computing Community Consortium is an activity of CRA that supports the computing research community in creating compelling research visions and the mechanisms to realize these visions. For more, visit www.cra.org/ccc
Two events this week on Capitol Hill that CRA will be involved in. First, there will be a Congressional STEM Education Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus briefing on CS education called Bringing Innovative Computing Curriculum across the Digital Divide that CRA is co-sponsoring with ACM, CSTA, NCWIT, SWE, IEEE-USA, and Microsoft. The briefing will cover the current state of CS education at the K-12 level and discuss new curriculum and teacher preparation developed by NSF and Microsoft. The briefing will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at noon in B339 Rayburn.
The second event will unveil the first CCC funded initiative in robotics this Thursday, May 21. The Congressional Robotics Caucus is hosting this briefing to showcase the Robotics Roadmap and the potential for growth and roadblocks for the use of robotics in various industries. Speakers at the briefing will include Henrik Christensen who led the CCC robotics effort, Rodney Brooks of Heartland Robotics, Dan Jones of Intuitive Surgical, Eric Close of RedZone Robotics, and Jared Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University. The briefing will take place beginning at 11:45 at the Capitol Visitor Center HVC 201 A-B. Lunch will be served and it will be a widely attended event. RSVP to Patti Rote at pattir at techcollaborative.org.
May 11, 2009
The Honorable Bart Gordon
Chairman
House Committee on Science and Technology
2318 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Ralph Hall
Ranking Member
House Committee on Science and Technology
394 Ford House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall:
As an organization representing 240 industry and academic institutions involved in computing research and six affiliated professional societies, the Computing Research Association is pleased to support your efforts to bolster federal information technology research through H.R. 2020, the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Act of 2009.
As you are aware, advances in information technology are transforming all aspects of our lives. Virtually every human endeavor today has been touched by information technology, including commerce, education, employment, health care, energy, manufacturing, governance, national security, communications the environment, entertainment, science and engineering. The profound reach of information technologies is enabled in large part by the innovations that spawn from the IT research ecosystem — an incredibly productive, yet complex interplay of industry, universities and the federal government. Indeed, nearly every sub-sector of the IT economy today bears the stamp of federal support. The program responsible for overseeing this crucial federal investment is the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program.
We believe the NITRD Act makes the NITRD program stronger by enacting several of the recommendations of the Presidents Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) review of the NITRD program in 2007. In particular, we are pleased the NITRD Act includes a requirement that the NITRD program undergo periodic review and assessment of the program contents and funding, as well as develop and periodically update a strategic plan — both key recommendations of PCAST and necessary in helping ensure the significant federal investment in IT R&D is used as effectively as possible.
Key to this review and assessment will be an independent advisory committee composed of experts from academia, industry and government. We hope that this advisory committee, though co-chaired by PCAST members, will be independent and that you will work to ensure that the Administration names a strong panel reporting to the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Presidents Science Advisor with high-level, expert guidance on the structure and priorities of the program.
We thank you for your work on the legislation and for your long-standing support of the federal investment in IT research. We look forward to working with you and your colleagues as you endeavor to move this legislation forward this session.
Sincerely,
Daniel A. Reed
Chair
The President used a speech before the members of the National Academy of Sciences today to reiterate his commitment to boosting the U.S. investment in science and technology.In his remarks before the opening session of the National Academy’s annual meeting, Obama set a goal of seeing the U.S. invest 3 percent or more of its annual GDP in basic and applied scientific research funding. This level of investment would represent the largest investment in American history — an even larger share of GDP than the U.S. invested during the space race of the 1950s and 60s. Here’s a choice quote from AP coverage of the speech:
The pursuit of discovery a half century ago fueled the nation’s prosperity and success, Obama told the academy.
“The commitment I am making today will fuel our success for another 50 years,” he said. “This work begins with an historic commitment to basic science and applied research.”
He set forth a wish list for the future including “learning software as effective as a personal tutor; prosthetics so advanced that you could play the piano again; an expansion of the frontiers of human knowledge about ourselves and world the around us.
“We can do this,” Obama said to applause.
According to a White House fact sheet distributed after his remarks today, the President plans to back up his rhetoric with a number of budgetary commitments, including:
A commitment to finish the 10-year doubling of 3 key science agencies (National Science Foundation, Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Insititutes of Standards and Technology). Between 2009 and 2016, the Administration’s enacted and proposed budgets would add $42.6 billion to the 2008 budgets for these basic research agencies, with a special emphasis on encouraging high-risk, high-return research and supporting researchers at the beginning of their careers.
The launch of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). ARPA-E is a new Department of Energy organization modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the defense agency that gave us the Internet, stealth aircraft, and many other technological breakthroughs.
A joint initiative by the Dept. of Energy and NSF that will inspire tens of thousands of American students to pursue careers in science, engineering, and entrepreneurship related to clean energy programs and scholarships from grade school to graduate school.
The President also used the occasion to name the members of his President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) — a committee of representatives from science and industry who will examine aspects of federal science policy and make recommendations to the President. For the last several years, PCAST has also assumed the statutory responsibilties of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), which was dissolved as a free-standing committee under President Bush (though there may be a move to reestablish the free-standing committee — more on that in a future post).
Among the new PCAST members are at least four from the computing community:
David Shaw, chief scientist of D. E. Shaw Research; and,
William Press, Professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin
Other members of the Council are: Rosina Bierbaum, Christine Cassel, Christopher Chyba, James Gates, John Holdren, Shirley Jackson, Eric Lander, Richard Levin, Chad Mirkin, Mario Molina, Ernest Moniz, Maxine Savitz, Barbara Schaal, Daniel Schrag, Harold Varmus and Ahmed Zewail. Holdren, Lander and Varmus will be the co-chairs of PCAST.
The President’s commitment to continuing the very recent robust increases for federal R&D — after several years of real-dollar declines — along with recent statements by key Senate appropriations staff who believe 7 percent annual increases for NSF are “sustainable,” give us reason to be somewhat optimistic going into the appropriations season this year. However, as always, other pressing concerns and shortfalls in the federal budget can adversly affect science funding despite all the apparent support, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on the process. But Obama’s initial steps here may turn out to be giant ones for U.S. science and innovation.
CRA’s incoming Board Chair Peter Lee, Deborah Estrin of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Chris Greer of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) National Coordinating Office testified before the House Science and Technology Committee last week on the NITRD Act of 2009. The Act incorporates the findings and recommendations of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) for the NITRD program. The hearing was well attended by members of the committee as well with a dozen attending at least part of the hearing.
All three witnesses praised the legislation for incorporating the PCAST recommendations for NITRD and for addressing a need in the research infrastructure. Lee specifically pointed out how easy it would be for the United States to lose the lead in IT R&D to other countries if it is not a focus, a comment picked up on by Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) during the question and answer portion of the hearing.
Questions from the Members of Congress ranged from agency participation in NITRD to security to education. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) asked about the need for intervention in the education system to fill the pipeline of scientists particularly for attracting women and minorities. Estrin spoke to the importance of reaching children in junior high school or earlier and making the connection between computer science and the larger societal problems that it can help fix such as energy and environmental issues and healthcare improvement. Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) and Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN) both brought up the issue of national security, noting that there are daily attacks from other countries on our systems with the intent of uncovering sensitive data and that our networks are vulnerable to hacking. Greer noted that security is always a challenge at the forefront of NITRD. Estrin and Lee both stated that there are numerous research projects underway attempting to increase the security of networks and Estrin emphasized the necessity of having security parameters that are usable by the average person.
The committee has not yet introduced the Act, though it’s expected to shortly after the current congressional recess ends next week. When the bill is dropped, we’ll have a complete analysis of it here, so stay tuned. In the meantime, the full written testimony as well as the webcast of the full hearing is available on the Committee’s web site.
The Coalition for National Science Funding, of which CRA is an active member, held its annual Science Exhibition on Capitol Hill last week. It was once again a great success with a room full of hundreds of attendees and a number of Congressmen visiting exhibits. For the first time, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attended, spoke briefly on the importance of funding basic science research, and received many thanks from the community there for her efforts to see science funded as part of the stimulus bill and the FY 09 Appropriations. Other members of Congress who attended included Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) pictured here. Overall, the event was very successful in spreading the message that federally funded science research makes important contributions and discoveries in all scientific fields.
Also pictured are Dr. Gregory Abowd of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Gillian Hayes of the University of California, Irvine who represented CRA with an exhibit on Behavior Imaging and Autism that drew a great deal of interest from attendees and the other participants. The exhibit showcased research on using sensors in toys and video imaging to monitor the developmental progress of children with autism and other developmental disorders.
The event, a science fair for Congress and staff, had 35 booths manned by researchers representing universities and scientific societies featuring some of the important research funded by the National Science Foundation.
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New DARPA Director Announced
/In: People /by Peter HarshaRegina Dugan will become the first woman to head the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in its 51-year history, the Department of Defense announced today. Dugan takes the reins from acting director, Robert Leheny, who has been running the agency since Tony Tether stepped down in February 2009.
From the official press release:
While Tether’s tenure with DARPA was the longest of any DARPA director, it also caused strain between the agency and the university research community — particularly the university computing research community — who felt that under his leadership, DARPA adopted policies that discouraged university participation in defense-related research. This blog has spilled a considerable number of electrons making that case as well. With the appointment of Dugan (and with someone familiar with the computing community in Lemnios as Director Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E)) it’s fair to say the community is optimistic some of those incredibly productive ties between university researchers and the agency will get restored. We’ll let you know how it progresses!
House S&T Committee Assesses Cybersecurity Activities at NIST and DHS.
/In: Policy /by MelissaNorrThe House Science and Technology committee held a hearing last Thursday afternoon to asses the cybersecurity efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The committee reviewed the agencies’ current cybersecurity programs, asking the advice of private sector security experts on the role the federal government has in securing the private sector’s infrastructure, enhancing the monitoring of federal networks, and more clearly defining cybersercurity metrics. Called to testify were Mr. Greg Wilshusen, the Director of Information Security Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO); Mr. Mark Bregman, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Symantec Corportation; Mr. Scott Charney, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group; and Mr. Jim Harper, the Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute.
In his opening statement, Technology and Innovation Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) asked the witnesses what is required to implement the recommendations of the 60-day review. He praised the review’s call to develop metrics to improve program assessment, budgeting, research and development, and planning. He stressed, however, that the $830M request this year from NIST and DHS on cybersecurity efforts needs to used wisely.
The panelists were circumspect about the role of the new cybersecurity czar, warning against government taking too large a role by acting as a co-partner or regulator of industry. Government, they agreed, should set security policy, minimum goals and desired outcomes, as well as facilitate best practices to help agencies meet these goals.
Mr. Wilshusen pointed out that DHS has yet to fully satisfy its cybersecurity requirements. He recommended that DHS work to bolster cyber analysis and warning systems, improve infrastructure control systems, strengthen recovery ability, reduce organizational inefficiencies, and secure internal information systems.
Mr. Bregman higlighted the global nature of problems in cybersecurity, “We all are using the same hardware and software. We all share the risks of cybersecurity.” Bregman defined the role of DHS and NIST as agencies that provide strategic direction, coordination, and balance for the nation, as well as taking a prominent role in international cybersecurity.
In his opening testimony, Mr. Charney remarked, “Government must develop a model for managing its own security.” Charney supported the near-term action plan of the administration’s review, especially in areas where DHS and NIST can expand their capabilities to support government-wide policy, standards and oversight of cybersecurity.
Mr. Harper responded to the review by expressing his concern with threat exaggeration that may lead to policies that supress competition and jeopardize civil liberties. Government, he stated, is a large consumer of cybersecurity goods, and can set high standards simply in its purchasing of products. Companies, he explained, should bear the burden of failure, not the government.
Mr. Wu’s question regarding public-private partnerships spurred a good deal of discussion. Charney, while agreeing with Mr. Harper regarding market liability, added that the market can supply security for the government in some cases and in other cases cannot. The government can fill in the gap by providing appropriate incentives. Charney acknowledged that there is some research industry cannot do because there is no economic model for it (e.g. the Internet). Mr. Bregman added that a clearly defined research agenda would stimulate investment in both the private and academic worlds. By aligning the research agendas of government agencies, a larger community of expertise can be created. Mr. Harper responded by stressing the importance of government and industry staying in their roles, and working separately in their respective areas.
Thursday’s hearing was the last of three hearings on cybersecurity in response to the administration’s Cyberspace Policy Review (pdf). For more information about the first hearing and second hearing, including testimony from the Computing Research Association board member Dr. Fred Schneider, see our earlier blog post.
An archived web cast of the hearing as well as copies of witness testimonies can be found on the House S&T Committee website.
Microsoft Research TechFair 2009
/In: Events /by MelissaNorrMicrosoft Research hosted its annual TechFair this Wednesday afternoon to show off some of the organization’s newest innovations to the DC policy crowd and the press. Held at the Newseum in Washington D.C., the event gave visitors an opportunity to chat with researchers about projets that addressed challenges in energy sustainability and efficiency, privacy, as well as personal and research productivity.
Two projects concerned themselves with the scientific research community, attempting to manage research workflows and make processing large amounts of data simpler and easier for scientists. Dryad, a distributed computing engine, simplifies the task of distributed applications on clusters of Windows computers. Trident makes it easy for scientists to design and manipulate workflows without having to rewrite the original algorithm (see below). Both systems will be offered as open-source software the research communiuty.
Microsoft Research provided 13 demonstrations that included an interactive omni-directional projector (see right), a system for social grouping of a user’s communication, an in-car dialogue system that allows natural language input, and a large scale spamming botnet detector called BotGraph.
This new system can uncover correlations among botnet activities by constructing a large scale user graph of major Web-email services and looks for patterns of use among “spam” accounts.
Social graphing appeared a number of times during the roadshow. One project used a social network graph in order to create a “trust” recommendation system by weighting the recommendations of direct relationships over indirect relationships.
Another project, the Commute UX dialog system (see below), hopes to make a drivers interaction with the many devices they use in the car safer and easier to use. The system is able to activate song playlists, make phone calls, and read and send text messages through natural speech.
Also on display was PINQ, the organization’s attempt at making privacy preservation easy for privacy non-experts. Data analysis of private data is still possible since PINQ gives access to the metadata generated from a computation while hiding the content itself.
Microsoft holds their TechFair in hopes that their demonstrations will highlight their committment to innovative research as well as to their ongoing collaboration with top universities around the world.
House S&T Committee Discusses Cyberspace Policy Review Report With Federal Agencies
/In: Events, Policy, Security /by MelissaNorrThe House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing Tuesday afternoon to review the response of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to the Administration’s recently released Cyberspace Policy Review (pdf). Near-term and mid-term action plans in the review raise a number of concerns relevant to the Committee’s work. These issues center around federal agency efforts in research and development, education, standards, information coordination and interagency collaboration. Witnesses called to testify were Ms. Cita Furlani, Director of the Information Technology Laboratory (NIST); Dr. Jeannette Wing, Assistant Director at the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (NSF); Dr. Robert Leheny, Acting Director (DARPA); Dr. Peter Fonash, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Office of Cyber Security Communications (DHS).
Technology and Innovation Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) opened the hearing by expressing his concern regarding previous federal cyber security efforts he believes were too “output oriented” rather than “outcome driven”, and was hopeful that the new administration will focus on achieving fewer breaches of federal systems, fewer cases of identity theft, as well as ensuring the security of smart grid systems and health IT systems. In his opening statement, he called upon witnesses to explain how each agency hopes to improve its cyber security in light of the Administration’s review.
Speaking next, Representative Adrian Smith (R-NE) drew attention to the agencies’ efforts in investing appropriately in cyber security research and development, securing the dot-gov domain as well as the critical infrastructure of the private sector.
Research and Science Education Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) emphasized the need for increased collaboration between public and private sectors to expose weaknesses in security and share breach information, as well as a multidisciplinary approach to cyber security in order to understand how we interact with computers and their information, calling people the “weakest link” in cyber security.
In their opening remarks, the witnesses discussed their responses to the review. They each expressed their appreciation that the review highlights the need for unclassified cyber security research and cyber security education. Ms. Furlani restated NIST’s mission to work with federal, state, local, private and academic institutions to develop the standards for information security. Dr. Wing, reminded the committee that many security measures implemented today are built on practices that were designed decades ago. Wing called for increased openness in the field of cyber security research. Looking ahead, she stated that the need to develop new practices based on current research could be filled by such an increase in the collaboration between industry and academic research institutions. Dr. Leheny echoed previous remarks that recognized the need for innovation to address cyber security threats. He also highlighted a DARPA project to develop a National Cyber Range that would have the ability to perform rigorous, realistic assessments of cyber security technology. In response to the review, Dr. Fonash described the role of the DHS in updating national security strategy, strengthening international partnerships, educating the public, and working with the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to prepare for plan for cyber incidents.
The member questions tended not to focus on any particular issue. Rep. Ehlers (R-MI) asked the panel how we can ensure security and at the same time preserve the freedom of unfettered communication. Rep. Ehlers’ question about the decreasing enrollment of computer science majors in the U.S. led to a discussion of the various programs each agency has in order to address the seeming decline in computer science interest among students. Dr. Wing, citing the CRA Taulbee Survey and expressed hope that the recent uptick in enrollments will continue. Dr. Leheny described two DARPA programs that focus on developing the attractiveness of computer science for undergraduates and untenured faculty. Rep. Lujan asked the witnesses how we can tap into the expertise of classified cyber security practices and research. Wing responded by explaining the formal process for agency collaboration under the National Coordinating Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) where unclassified IT research and development investments for thirteen Ferderal agencies are coordinated. Rep. Smith, while acknowledging the need for public and private partnership in cyber security, asked Dr. Fonash how the private sector can be compelled to follow standards. Fonash responded by stressing the importance of information sharing programs in order for industry to not only be aware of security standards, but that they know how to take the appropriate measures to secure their private data. When pressed about the need for legislation in this regard, Fonash replied that he couldn’t say yes or no at this time.
Tuesday’s hearing was the second of three hearings on cyber security. The first hearing was held by the Research and Science Education Subcommittee on the research needs of improved cyber security. Computing Research Association board member Dr. Fred Schneider testified about the state of cyber security education as well as the range of federally supported research. The final hearing regarding the cyber security activities of NIST and the DHS will be held next week.
An archived webcast of the hearing as well as copies of witness testimonies can be found on the House S&T Committee website.
U.S. Lags Globally in Robotics Development
/In: Policy /by Peter HarshaExperts Warn of Technology Drain; seek federal intervention
Washington, May 21, 2009 Robotics have the potential within the next decade to become as prevalent as computers in daily American life, but the country lags behind others worldwide in recognizing the importance of this technology.
In a report released today, titled National Robotics Technology Roadmap, (link forthcoming) a group of 140 experts from industry, federal laboratories, and leading academic institutions assert the United States lags behind other countries in its ability to compete economically unless more investment is made in this technology.
To address this issue, the Roadmap urges Congress to increase spending in the FY 2010 budget and calls on the Obama administration to establish a high profile position at the White House to coordinate and integrate robotics policy throughout government.
Unfortunately, the United States lags behind other countries in recognizing the importance of robotics technology. While the European Union, Japan, Korea and the rest of the world have made significant R&D investments in robotics technology, the U.S. investment, outside unmanned systems for defense purposes, remains practically non-existent. Unless this situation can be addressed in the near future, the United States runs the risk of relinquishing its ability to globally compete in these emerging markets putting the nation at risk of having to rely on the rest of the world to provide a critical technology that our population will become increasingly dependent upon.
Robotics technology holds the potential to transform the future of the country. The next generation robotech industry will affect the lives of every American and have an enormous economic, social and political impact on our future. Human-robot interaction is central to many of the most exciting application of robots, including the use of medical robots, assistive robotics, prosthetics, rehabilitation, transportation, human augmentation, entertainment and education. Other applications on the horizon include factory and military robots, domestic service robots, a team of search and rescue robots and exoskeleton man-amplifiers the report explained.
The National Robotics Technology Roadmap was the result of an unprecedented level of cooperation among members of the business community and academia. This effort was led by the Computing Community Consortium and sponsored by the Computing Research Association via a grant from the National Science Foundation.
The Computing Research Association is an association of more than 200 North American academic departments of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia engaging in basic computing research; and affiliated professional societies. For more information, visit www.cra.org.
The Computing Community Consortium is an activity of CRA that supports the computing research community in creating compelling research visions and the mechanisms to realize these visions. For more, visit www.cra.org/ccc
Two Hill Briefings This Week
/In: Computing Community Consortium (CCC), Computing Education, CRA, Diversity in Computing, Events /by MelissaNorrTwo events this week on Capitol Hill that CRA will be involved in. First, there will be a Congressional STEM Education Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus briefing on CS education called Bringing Innovative Computing Curriculum across the Digital Divide that CRA is co-sponsoring with ACM, CSTA, NCWIT, SWE, IEEE-USA, and Microsoft. The briefing will cover the current state of CS education at the K-12 level and discuss new curriculum and teacher preparation developed by NSF and Microsoft. The briefing will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at noon in B339 Rayburn.
The second event will unveil the first CCC funded initiative in robotics this Thursday, May 21. The Congressional Robotics Caucus is hosting this briefing to showcase the Robotics Roadmap and the potential for growth and roadblocks for the use of robotics in various industries. Speakers at the briefing will include Henrik Christensen who led the CCC robotics effort, Rodney Brooks of Heartland Robotics, Dan Jones of Intuitive Surgical, Eric Close of RedZone Robotics, and Jared Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University. The briefing will take place beginning at 11:45 at the Capitol Visitor Center HVC 201 A-B. Lunch will be served and it will be a widely attended event. RSVP to Patti Rote at pattir at techcollaborative.org.
NITRD Act Passed In House
/In: CRA, Policy /by MelissaNorrThe House of Representatives passed H.R. 2020, the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2009, a bill that we have mentioned here previously. In support of the NITRD Act, CRA wrote a letter to Congressmen Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Ralph Hall (R-TX), the chair and ranking member of the House Committee on Science and Technology:
Obama Announces New Commitment to R&D Funding, PCAST Members
/In: Funding, FY10 Appropriations, Policy, R&D in the Press /by Peter HarshaThe President used a speech before the members of the National Academy of Sciences today to reiterate his commitment to boosting the U.S. investment in science and technology.In his remarks before the opening session of the National Academy’s annual meeting, Obama set a goal of seeing the U.S. invest 3 percent or more of its annual GDP in basic and applied scientific research funding. This level of investment would represent the largest investment in American history — an even larger share of GDP than the U.S. invested during the space race of the 1950s and 60s. Here’s a choice quote from AP coverage of the speech:
According to a White House fact sheet distributed after his remarks today, the President plans to back up his rhetoric with a number of budgetary commitments, including:
The President also used the occasion to name the members of his President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) — a committee of representatives from science and industry who will examine aspects of federal science policy and make recommendations to the President. For the last several years, PCAST has also assumed the statutory responsibilties of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), which was dissolved as a free-standing committee under President Bush (though there may be a move to reestablish the free-standing committee — more on that in a future post).
Among the new PCAST members are at least four from the computing community:
Other members of the Council are: Rosina Bierbaum, Christine Cassel, Christopher Chyba, James Gates, John Holdren, Shirley Jackson, Eric Lander, Richard Levin, Chad Mirkin, Mario Molina, Ernest Moniz, Maxine Savitz, Barbara Schaal, Daniel Schrag, Harold Varmus and Ahmed Zewail. Holdren, Lander and Varmus will be the co-chairs of PCAST.
The President’s commitment to continuing the very recent robust increases for federal R&D — after several years of real-dollar declines — along with recent statements by key Senate appropriations staff who believe 7 percent annual increases for NSF are “sustainable,” give us reason to be somewhat optimistic going into the appropriations season this year. However, as always, other pressing concerns and shortfalls in the federal budget can adversly affect science funding despite all the apparent support, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on the process. But Obama’s initial steps here may turn out to be giant ones for U.S. science and innovation.
House S&T Committee Focuses on IT at NITRD Hearing
/In: CRA, Events, Funding, People, Policy /by MelissaNorrCRA’s incoming Board Chair Peter Lee, Deborah Estrin of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Chris Greer of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) National Coordinating Office testified before the House Science and Technology Committee last week on the NITRD Act of 2009. The Act incorporates the findings and recommendations of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) for the NITRD program. The hearing was well attended by members of the committee as well with a dozen attending at least part of the hearing.
All three witnesses praised the legislation for incorporating the PCAST recommendations for NITRD and for addressing a need in the research infrastructure. Lee specifically pointed out how easy it would be for the United States to lose the lead in IT R&D to other countries if it is not a focus, a comment picked up on by Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) during the question and answer portion of the hearing.
Questions from the Members of Congress ranged from agency participation in NITRD to security to education. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) asked about the need for intervention in the education system to fill the pipeline of scientists particularly for attracting women and minorities. Estrin spoke to the importance of reaching children in junior high school or earlier and making the connection between computer science and the larger societal problems that it can help fix such as energy and environmental issues and healthcare improvement. Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) and Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN) both brought up the issue of national security, noting that there are daily attacks from other countries on our systems with the intent of uncovering sensitive data and that our networks are vulnerable to hacking. Greer noted that security is always a challenge at the forefront of NITRD. Estrin and Lee both stated that there are numerous research projects underway attempting to increase the security of networks and Estrin emphasized the necessity of having security parameters that are usable by the average person.
The committee has not yet introduced the Act, though it’s expected to shortly after the current congressional recess ends next week. When the bill is dropped, we’ll have a complete analysis of it here, so stay tuned. In the meantime, the full written testimony as well as the webcast of the full hearing is available on the Committee’s web site.
Annual Capitol Hill Science Fair A Great Success
/In: CRA, Events, Funding, FY09 Appropriations, Policy /by MelissaNorrThe Coalition for National Science Funding, of which CRA is an active member, held its annual Science Exhibition on Capitol Hill last week. It was once again a great success with a room full of hundreds of attendees and a number of Congressmen visiting exhibits. For the first time, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attended, spoke briefly on the importance of funding basic science research, and received many thanks from the community there for her efforts to see science funded as part of the stimulus bill and the FY 09 Appropriations. Other members of Congress who attended included Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) pictured here. Overall, the event was very successful in spreading the message that federally funded science research makes important contributions and discoveries in all scientific fields.
Also pictured are Dr. Gregory Abowd of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Gillian Hayes of the University of California, Irvine who represented CRA with an exhibit on Behavior Imaging and Autism that drew a great deal of interest from attendees and the other participants. The exhibit showcased research on using sensors in toys and video imaging to monitor the developmental progress of children with autism and other developmental disorders.
The event, a science fair for Congress and staff, had 35 booths manned by researchers representing universities and scientific societies featuring some of the important research funded by the National Science Foundation.