The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) has ‘had discussions’ on the...

The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) has “had discussions” on the potential impact of federal regulation on an industry’s ability to protect critical infrastructure, but after only 7 weeks isn’t prepared to suggest that regulators remove rules, a DHS official said Wed. Speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on critical infrastructure, DHS Deputy Secy. Gordon England responded to a question from a BellSouth official in the audience that DHS knew some industries had “high regulatory walls around them,” adding that personally “I would like not to build up new regulatory requirements” as industries increased their focus on security. England had been asked whether DHS would be willing to lean on the FCC to reduce regulations on ILECs, or at least have the FCC run proposed regulations through a homeland security filter, but England couldn’t give her a firm answer: “We're not at that point.” Separately, he said companies needed “embedded economic incentives” to improve cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection. With 85% of the nation’s critical infrastructure in private hands, he said, companies needed to recognize that “the market will reward” companies that took security seriously. He said DHS would help by providing assessment methodology to calculate risk and by compiling best practices. Chamber of Commerce Exec. Vp-Govt. Affairs Bruce Josten agreed security was a responsibility of the private sector and said his organization had been asked by DHS to work on a business model for security. However, he said, “economic security and homeland security go hand in hand.” In “challenging economic times,” Josten said companies must figure out ways to leverage spending and even see return on investment (RoI) from their security dollars.