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NSTAC Chairman Addresses, Praises Industry Executive Subcommittee

Washington D.C., January 30, 2001 - The Chairman of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) told members of the NSTAC Industry Executive Subcommittee (IES) that their work was critical to NSTAC’s effectiveness and thanked them for performing their duties on behalf of their companies and in support of the Nation.

Daniel P. Burnham, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Raytheon Company, also told the subcommittee that he is committed to supporting NSTAC to ensure that the combined efforts of the IES are highly visible to the Nation’s leadership.

Speaking before the subcommittee’s monthly meeting on January 18, Burnham assured the IES members that they are not working national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications issues in obscurity. He assured them that the communications industry and the Federal Government greatly recognize their efforts in researching and recommending critical infrastructure protection issues to the President.

“Your reports have received national recognition,” said Burnham. Because of NSTAC’s 17-year reputation as a leader in industry-Government cooperation and because previous NSTAC recommendations were enacted in past presidential administrations, Burnham said he has every reason to believe that the Bush Administration will take great interest in NSTAC’s assessment on the threats to our national infrastructure -- both cyber and physical.

The meeting between Burnham and the IES members was the first since Burnham assumed the NSTAC Chair on September 25, 2000. It provided the Chair a chance to tell IES members how involved he would be in NSTAC issues. “I told John (IES Working Chair John Grimes of Raytheon) that if I’m going to take on the chairmanship, I’m going to be involved,” said Burnham. He assured members he would be “engaged and visible” and would occasionally attend IES meetings to show that there would be no question to his active support of NSTAC initiatives.

Burnham added that he would make quarterly trips to the Washington area to meet with the President’s National Security Council and “make sure that the new national security team is aware of our activities.” He also said he would meet frequently with Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege, Jr., the Manager of the National Communications System (NCS) and Director, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), on NSTAC issues and NS/EP concerns.

In recognizing a part of the IES’ ongoing work, Burnham was quick to cite efforts in network convergence. “No doubt that convergence of telephone and Internet networks are going to continue to be a big, big issue,” said Burnham, who referred to the need for “assured” NS/EP for telecommunications services during national emergencies. He said that former White House Science Advisor Neal Lane specifically asked NSTAC to address the potential for widespread outage of converged networks and next generation networks. “I know that the IES is taking it on,” said Burnham, “and I really look forward to your initial findings that we will all here about in June.”

Burnham briefly touched on the creation of a new IES effort –- the Last Mile Bandwidth Availability Task Force. The new task force -- formally approved by the IES during its business session -- will examine the root causes of provisioning delays and how the provisioning process is affected by economic and technical factors. The task force also hopes to recommend how the Government might work with the communications industry to reduce provisioning times or otherwise mitigate the effects of delays, and examine what policy-based solutions could be applied to provisioning of high-bandwidth circuits for NS/EP services.

Burnham then praised IES efforts to become more responsive to requests from the Government on NS/EP telecommunications issues. “I’m sure that you’re all going to agree that we need to stay ahead of these fast-changing threats,” said Burnham. He added that the NSTAC must not only respond to requests quickly, but also anticipate the next request so they can “provide clear and unambiguous information and advice.”

He also praised the efforts of the men and women of the Office of the Manager, National Communications System for their unfailing support to the activities of NSTAC and the IES.

In closing, Burnham told the IES members that there is a very clear set of priorities facing them. “Once those priorities are set -- and think they are largely set -- we need to stick to them … and that communications [about the priorities] are clear and unambiguous,” he said. “You deserve that, the White House deserves that, and I’m going to strive to work with you to achieve that.”

Following his remarks to the subcommittee, Lt. Gen. Raduege presented Burnham with his NSTAC appointment certificate, signed by former President Clinton, plus a framed photograph of the NSTAC gavel exchange ceremony held last September at the White House. The general also presented an NSTAC appointment certificate to G. William Ruhl, the United States Telecom Association Principal to NSTAC.

Following the certificate presentations, both Burnham and Ruhl listened to a briefing by MG James D. Bryan, Vice Director of DISA and Commander of U.S. Space Command’s Joint Task Force-Computer Network Defense. They were then were escorted by Lt.Gen. Raduege on tours of the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC) and the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Global Network Operations and Security Center.

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