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Democratic Senator Suddenly Obsessed with Cyber Security

12:33 PM, Dec 3, 2009 • By JOHN NOONAN
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Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over 'Climategate':

Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon.

Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that the recently released e-mails, showing scientists allegedly overstating the case for climate change, should be treated as a crime.

"You call it 'Climategate'; I call it 'E-mail-theft-gate,'" she said during a committee meeting. "Whatever it is, the main issue is, Are we facing global warming or are we not? I'm looking at these e-mails, that, even though they were stolen, are now out in the public."

Boxer said her committee may hold hearings into the matter as its top Republican, Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), has asked for, but that a criminal probe would be part of any such hearings.

"This is a crime," Boxer said.

Thousands of times a day our defense networks are hit with sophisticated cyber attacks by hackers ranging from foreign governments like Russian and China down to punk kids looking for a challenge. They try to steal classified information, disrupt communications, and otherwise make life seriously difficult for our military. DoD leaders have been howling for more funds and tighter legislation to defend our sensitive defense computers for years, we've suffered a myriad of embarassing defense leaks because of loose PC defense, we've had foreign governments steal mountains of classified information from leaky networks... and it took Climategate for Barbara Boxer to get serious about network defense and cyber crimes?

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