Telco companies and agencies are working to restore services in Alabama and other states impacted by the tornadoes and severe storms that struck the Southeast this week. Companies’ natural disaster response teams are ready for the hurricane season, they said.

Blame for poor cybersecurity skipped the logical target, the top Department of Homeland Security cyber official, landing instead on a self-regulatory body, at a Wednesday House Homeland Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing on control systems. Assistant Secretary of Cybersecurity and Telecom Greg Garcia, faulted for missing the previous cybersecurity hearing by Chairman William Langevin, D-R.I. (WID April 20 p1), got off with a light scolding by lawmakers. But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Garcia seemed to palm off his shop’s responsibility for oversight to a fellow agency. Ranking Member Michael McCaul, R-Tex., took the lead in crediting DHS and others with finding security gaps before terrorists and hostile states did.

Having hit House Commerce, Judiciary and Small Business committees with competition concerns, opponents of VeriSign’s proposed .com registry contract said they plan to air grievances with the House Homeland Security Committee on a new angle: Cybersecurity. An “expert report” commissioned by prime critic Network Solutions (NS) said ICANN hasn’t ensured “adequate security safeguards” in the .com, .biz, .info and .org top-level domain registry agreements. But VeriSign shot back that the report was “very basic” and more concerned with swaying Congress than improving registry security.

State information security superintendents crave closer dealings with the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), in place of the more detached, business-based approach that exists, leaders of the National Assn. of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) said Wed. Fellowships for state and local chief information security officers (CISO) at DHS’s National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) would be ideal for broadening the agency’s outreach to and coordination with such officials, they said during a teleconference with reporters. The group released a report on U.S. cybersecurity strategies that laid out 5 strategic recommendations and 18 tactical recommendations.

Telcos and wireless providers said Fri. they were working to ensure viable communications if Hurricane Rita knocked out coastal Tex. operations centers. Verizon and SBC said they were collaborating with federal emergency management and had activated emergency operations centers. They had technicians ready to make repairs and had reinforced switching center offices with sandbags, plywood and other materials. Officials also were working closely with state and local agencies to coordinate emergency communications.

Raising questions about who will head up several European Commission (EC) directorates handling telecom- and Internet-related issues, EC Pres.-Designate Manuel Barroso Wed. sought a postponement of the scheduled European Parliament (EP) vote on his proposed slate of new commissioners. “Barroso asked for more time” to come up with a more palatable team and EP members (MEPs) were happy to agree, an EP spokesman told us. The move could involve shuffling some candidates and dropping others. MEPs have been most critical of Barroso’s choice for Justice, Freedom & Security -- Rocco Buttiglione, who has been skewered for his outspoken antigay opinions and view that women should stay at home. After hearings, 2 parliamentary committees this month submitted widely divergent assessments of Buttiglione to EP Pres. Josep Borrell Fontelles. The Committee on Legal Affairs said Buttiglione satisfactorily answered questions about such issues as protection of intellectual property rights and was qualified to serve as a commissioner. The committee pointed out, however, that several political groups “expressed reservations” about his ability to take “positive political action in the area of citizens’ rights,” particularly to combat discrimination. But members of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs couldn’t agree on a joint assessment of Buttiglione and voted by a small margin against his nomination to lead the Justice directorate. Barroso’s candidate for Competition Comr., Neelie Kroes, also garnered negative reviews from some quarters. In its report to the EP pres., the Economic & Monetary Affairs Committee said most of its members were “to some degree disappointed with her performance at the hearing, finding her detailed grasp of certain specific subjects to be insufficient.” MEPs were worried particularly about Kroes’s many former business interests and asked Barroso to clarify how antitrust cases in which she may have a conflict of interest will be handled. Information Society Directorate nominee Viviane Reding passed muster with the Committee on Industry, Research & Energy, but the committee expressed concern over her lack of deep technical knowledge of e-communications and Information Society matters. The panel also said 2 of its smaller political groups were disappointed with Reding’s comments on software patents. Telecom and Internet issues also fall under the jurisdiction of the Internal Market directorate, whose proposed chief is Charlie McCreevy. In its report to the EP pres., the Committee on the Internet Market & Consumer Protection found McCreevy to be a suitable candidate. Barroso now can start from scratch, and European telecom and Internet groups are watching. The European Telecom Network Operators’ Assn. said it “fully respects” Barroso’s decision not to submit the new Commission to a vote. However, it said, it hopes Barroso retains Reding as his choice for Information Society & Media Comr. A huge issue for ISPs is data retention, which falls within the jurisdiction of Justice (because it involves cooperation on law enforcement matters), Internal Market, and Information Society. European ISPs will be “very worried” if the next Justice chief fails to discuss issues such as data retention with all those interested, said EuroISPA Regulatory Affairs Mgr. Richard Nash. The new commission was supposed to be in place Nov. 1. At a news briefing Wed., Barroso wouldn’t specify when he intended to introduce his new team but suggested it could be within the next couple weeks.

As Hurricane Isabel bore down on the East Coast, telecom carriers said they were prepared for the worst. BellSouth and Verizon officials said their technicians were checking backup power systems so they could continue providing phone service if commercial power was lost and making sure their fuel tanks were full.