Panel Warns Against Systems Breakdown

The nation’s power, water, finance and emergency systems are increasingly connected, especially through the Internet, and government research funding to prevent cascading failures should be doubled, a presidential commission says. The President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection is reviewing security for eight critical infrastructures: electric power distribution, telecommunication, banking and finance, water, transportation, oil and gas storage and transportation, emergency services and government services. An advisory committee, in its first official meeting, said the budget for research and development against threats to the infrastructure is now $250 million. The panel urged doubling that in 1999 and adding $100 million a year to $1 billion by 2004.