Commerce Department gets funds to combat cyber espionage

Funds appropriated for the Commerce Department last week include $10 million for an initiative to combat cyber espionage, including efforts by foreign criminals and enemy nations to hack into a computer system that tracks smuggling of weapons of mass destruction and other dangerous goods. The 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which President Obama signed into law Dec. 16, includes more than $100 million for Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, which regulates the export of sensitive goods and technologies, and enforces export control regulations. The bureau's budget includes $10 million for the Cyber Espionage Response Initiative, to fund an increase in cybersecurity personnel and security enhancements to computer systems that maintain sensitive data about international trade, including illegal export activities.