FCC and state commissions should be required to balance national ...

Policy since Telecom Act of 1996 may be “inconsistent” with goal of building networks secure from both physical and cyber attacks, he said. “Telecom policy is driven to maximize competition” but open telephone “network configured to maximize competition is not necessarily a secured network,” he said: “The FCC needs to consider how new rules impact the security of networks.” USTA supports govt.-industry cooperation on development of national policy for security of telephone and data networks, Phythyon said: “This seems to be a no-brainer in this country where the government has relied on privately owned communications networks for more than 100 years,” but many other countries have govt.-owned networks. Security of U.S. networks is interrelated with those of other countries, he said. Other points: (1) Each service provider should bear responsibility for national security. Example given was background checks for technicians who work for CLEC that’s colocated in ILEC central office. ILEC shouldn’t be responsible for CLEC employees, he said. (2) Mandate to carriers for national security should be funded by govt. agency that requests it. (3) Regulations on national security “must be coordinated among all government entities with jurisdiction to avoid duplicative, unnecessary and inconsistent requirements.” Sept. 11 greatly expanded govt. agencies working on national security, Phythyon said: “It is difficult to get your arms around everything going on in Washington, let alone the state and local agencies crucial to the national security effort.” USTA encourages federal govt. to focus on what agencies are most important to “make sure they coordinate with the necessary state and local governments,” he said.