Sen. John Edwards has introduced a bill that would require agencies to identify vulnerabilities in their systems and set up timetables for eliminating them. The North Carolina Democrat’s National Cyber Security Leadership Act of 2003 would also mandate the use of IT security standards and guidelines established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The bill, introduced Jan. 16, has been referred to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Edwards said he introduced S 187 because of the dismal performance of many agencies in the most recent rounds of evaluations by the Office of Management and Budget, the General Accounting Office, and the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations. He said the government’s lax efforts set a poor example for the private sector and offer little incentive for federal contractors to upgrade security. Full Story