Hurd: U.S. Must Address Intelligence Challenges of the Digital Age

As a young CIA officer new to Washington, D.C., Rep. Will Hurd enjoyed visiting the National Archives.  Recenly, after Hurd won election to Congress in November and assembled his staff, he held a team retreat at his old haunt.

During their visit, a historian brought out a radar plot from the Opana Radar Site in Hawaii.  The plot was from Dec. 7, 1941.  At the time, radar was a new technology.  The plot showed -- unknowingly to the personnel who made it -- the approaching Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

This, Hurd said, was an example of an intelligence failure.  Another was the failure to share and piece together information before 9-11.  Now, the congressman, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee, said he is in a position to try to make sure nothing like this happens again.
One example Hurd cited was border security, where agencies within the Department of Homeland Security don't share information.   Another is a jurisdictional turf battle that has hampered the ability of Congress to formulate adequate polices for cybertechnology and cybersecurity.

The need to develop policies that address the cybersecurity threat is immediate and growing. "If North Korea launched a missile into San Francisco, we know how the United States would respond. What is the appropriate response to a digital attack? These are questions that no one knows the answers to and that I want to shine a light on."

Watch the entire presentation below.