On The Hill
Lobbyists See Potential Senate Leaders As Tech Friends
     Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., announced on Friday that he would step down in response to criticism over comments he made that have been characterized as racially insensitive. Many tech industry members see a friend in the leading candidate to replace him, Bill Frist of Tennessee. Don Nickles of Oklahoma also is a contender. Though Lott supports broad business initiatives, he never has taken a lead on high-tech issues, while both Frist and Nickles have made inroads within the sector over the past several years, lobbyists said. Frist is a co-founder of the Congressional Forum on Innovation and Technology. And as recent head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Frist made several visits to Silicon Valley. As a practicing heart surgeon, he relies on the latest high-tech equipment to assist him in delivering patient services. Nickles supported the creation of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, which handles outreach to the industry.

Cyber Security
United States Lacks 'Doctrine' For Cyber War, Clarke Says
     As national security officials work to develop a "doctrine" for defending the United States against cyber threats from enemy nations, other countries are assembling their own cyber warfare strategies and arsenals, White House cyber-security chief Richard Clarke said. "Other countries are creating cyber-warfare units -- some of them fairly openly," Clarke said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast. "I've read unclassified Chinese government statements from their military leadership about their belief that cyber warfare is going to [be] a key element in any future conflict, and they are organizing units to do it." The United States has plenty of effective cyber weapons but does not yet have a "fully developed sense of doctrine or strategy" for cyber warfare analogous to the doctrine that guides the nation's potential use of nuclear weapons, according to Clarke. "We're making progress, but we're not there yet," he said.

Cyber Security
Revised Cyber-Security Plan Goes To Bush Next Week
     White House officials expect to present a revamped national cyber-security strategy to President Bush for his approval soon, and a formal public release is expected in early January, according to a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Cyberspace Security. The strategy has been significantly rewritten and includes greater responsibility for Internet service providers (ISPs) to ensure that computer networks are less vulnerable to attack, according to sources. Further, it puts more emphasis on the need for private firms to disclose computer vulnerabilities and for wireless technologies to be secure. Earlier this month, Richard Davidson, president of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council that is advising Bush on cyber security, told a Western Governors Association conference that his group recommended that ISPs be given more responsibility for securing cyberspace. Meanwhile, a congressional advisory panel urged the federal government to adopt 59 recommendations the panel made to boost homeland security.

Budget
Budget Battles Could Jeopardize Security Priorities, Aides Said
     The inability of Congress to clear 11 of its 13 annual appropriations bills is impacting homeland security efforts and could jeopardize some White House priorities for next year, congressional experts said at an Equity International event. The budget for the Homeland Security Department will be drawn from nine of the measures. "Homeland security has been and continues to be an unfortunate casualty" of the budget debates, said Jim Dyer, the House Appropriations Committee's staff director.

Piracy
Office Accused Of 'Stifling' Debate Over Anti-Piracy Devices
     The Copyright Office is "stifling legitimate comment and debate" over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by narrowly circumscribing the comments it will accept in a rule-making considering exemptions to the law, four interest groups charged. In an open letter to Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters spearheaded by Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, the groups said they had "deep concern over the extremely narrow scope of the notice of inquiry" begun by the Copyright Office. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Consumers Union and American Foundation for the Blind co-signed the letter. Under the 1998 DMCA, the office must conduct an inquiry every three years to determine if technologies adversely affect individuals' ability to make non-infringing use of copyrighted works. The deadline for comments in the current proceeding was Wednesday, and more than 50 groups filed, Copyright Office General Counsel David Carson said.

Intellectual Property
Electronics, Cable Industries Reach Deal On Digital TV
     Consumer manufacturers and cable companies say they have reached an agreement that will nudge the transition to digital television one step closer to becoming reality. However, the groups said they need the FCC to approve and codify the agreement before it takes full effect. The agreement "wears down totally probably the largest obstacle" to digital television, said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association. The deal establishes technical and legal standards that would allow any high-definition television to work with any cable system, eliminating the need for a set-top box. It also establishes encoding technology and rules that would permit customers to copy programs and watch them at home but could prevent them from being distributed widely. Also on the digital TV front, the heads of three major technology groups disagree with 13 members of Congress who recently supported two controversial approaches to digital TV -- either barring analog outputs on the TVs or requiring "watermarks" on them to detect illegal copying of digital content.

E-Government
Report Criticizes Administration For Lax E-Government Plan
     A governmental oversight agency criticized the Bush administration for its initiatives designed to migrate government services online, saying that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chose to implement various projects without establishing a clear strategy or business plan. The General Accounting Office (GAO) said the 24 e-government projects lack key accountability measures to ensure that the programs are implemented efficiently. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., released the study. OMB embarked upon the 24 initiatives in August 2001 without developing comprehensive cost-benefit assessments for each project, the report said. GAO added that OMB lacked necessary information to adequately measure and monitor implementation of the projects. Separately, President Bush this week signed into law a measure to bolster e-government services.

Science
President Signs National Science Foundation Bill
     President Bush signed into law legislation that would double the budget for the National Science Foundation over the next several years. That bill, H.R. 4664, also would authorize funding designed to bolster a skilled workforce by targeting money toward math and science education. House bill sponsors Nick Smith, R-Mich., Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., and committee ranking Democrat Ralph Hall of Texas were present at the bill signing.