US Aims to Bolster Overseas Fight Against Cybercrime

The alleged Chinese cyber attacks on Google have spurred proposals at the State Department and on Capitol Hill to establish an ambassador-level cybersecurity post and to tie foreign aid to a country's ability to police cybercrime.

"Google was a watershed moment," said James Lewis, a former State Department official and cybersecurity specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It helped push the debate in the direction of better security." Cybersecurity involves the protection of government and corporate computer systems from hackers. In the wake of the cyber attacks on Google Inc., officials at the State Department circulated a proposal to create an ambassador-like post, according to officials briefed on the proposal. This person would take on such duties as negotiating cyber policy at the United Nations, and making sure the U.S. has a consistent position on cybersecurity when issues come up overseas. The proposal, however, has run into internal resistance from the State Department's intelligence bureau, which oversees most cybersecurity matters at the department, said Mr. Lewis, who frequently advises the administration. The turf wars inside the State Department became apparent several months ago, when Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met with the more than one-dozen bureaus with an interest in cybersecurity issues and discovered many thought they should run the security for the department, officials said. The emerging solution is to create a high-level cybersecurity position. The person in this job would either report to a top State official, such as the deputy secretary, or to a panel of representatives from the major department bureaus involved in computer security policy, U.S. officials said.