| The transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age has brought technological advancements that have created vulnerabilities in our national information infrastructures and threats to our national security. While the technologies of the latter twentieth century have improved business and financial processes and the ability to communicate, they have also significantly contributed to a pervasive problem in our ability to secure the homeland. Further, although national security has, traditionally, been recognized as the responsibility of the federal government, the onus is now on the infrastructure's stakeholders to share the responsibility for developing and implementing security measures to ensure national security.; This dissertation seeks to study the relationship between the transition between the Ages, the technological advancements and ensuing vulnerabilities that accompanied the Information Age, and the roles of the legislative and executive branches of government to address these issues. Thus, where the politics of the last one hundred years focused on the needs of the Industrial Age, the politics of the Information Age must focus on information security, storage, protection, and information sharing.; A descriptive analysis of the decision-making processes that affected both the legislative and executive branches was utilized in this study. David Easton's Systems model and Malcolm Jewell and Samuel Patterson's Legislative Role Orientation model were used to closely examine and, where applicable, dissect the plethora of actors who comprise the legislative system. Those factors---both external and internal---that influence the Congress and the President, their respective committees and layers of bureaucracy, interest groups, private sector businesses, and public opinion were also analyzed.; The findings in the research reveal that the Information Age has necessitated a shift in the practices of the federal government. It has forced the legislative branch, to reconsider how issues of national security relative to critical infrastructures, i.e., water supply, electrical power grids, telecommunications networks, and financial services, will be safeguarded. Moreover, it has forced the executive branch to fill the gaps where the legislation was either inadequate or ineffective. |
