[no subject]

About 200 people worked on the online resource, with much of the data being
transferred from books to the web in India, the OUP said. 

But the giant resource comes at a price: Annual fees start at $248.6 for
schools and rise to $4,260 for large libraries. 

The first part of the project was launched on Wednesday with 3,000 bodies
across the world already signed up for free trials. 

The OUP is the world's largest university press with its roots in the early
days of publishing in the late 15th century. 

It publishes more than 4,500 new books each year and employs 3,700 worldwide.
***************
Government Executive
Senator urges FBI not to eliminate computer security center 

FBI Director Robert Mueller is considering whether to eliminate the National
Infrastructure Protection Center, the federal government?s central coordinator
of information about threats to the nation?s transportation, communications,
finance, power and water systems, according to a letter obtained by Government
Executive.


According to the letter, which Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, sent to Mueller
Tuesday, the FBI director outlined a proposal to dismantle NIPC during a
February meeting with the senator. Grassley wrote that Mueller is considering
placing one part of NIPC in the FBI?s criminal division and another in its
counterterrorism/counterintelligence division. 


In a Presidential Decision Directive issued in 1998, President Clinton
formalized NIPC?s role, saying it should ?provide a national focal point for
gathering information threats to infrastructures. The directive gives NIPC the
authority to coordinate the federal government?s response to attacks on
elements of the nation?s critical infrastructure. 


Grassley said that splitting the center?s national security and law enforcement
roles would detract from current information-sharing initiatives. Moving NIPC?s
functions primarily into the criminal division, which investigates criminal
acts after they occur, ?will only increase the problems NIPC had in the past
with quickly analyzing threat information and issuing timely and accurate
warnings,? Grassley wrote.


NIPC now gets information from a number of fledgling private sector
organizations called information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs). This
feedback is important because 90 percent of the nation?s critical
infrastructure resides in the private sector. 


Private sector sources told Government Executive that they have been wary of
working with a federal organization that is part of the FBI. ?People don?t like
to be asked questions by the FBI,? said one source who wished to remain
anonymous. Furthermore, the sources said NIPC takes information from the ISACs
but rarely provides them with legitimate warnings or analysis in return.


Grassley said in his letter that Mueller?s plan ?would destroy the fragile
trust between NIPC and the private sector ?.The broken trust would in turn
curtail, if not end, the flow of information from the private sector to the
FBI, leaving the bureau essentially blind about threats to critical
infrastructure.?


Grassley wrote that his staff has tried for two weeks to get updates about the
plan but has received no response. Mueller could make his decision by next
week. If he decides to dismantle NIPC, Grassley threatened to introduce
legislation that would remove NIPC from the FBI. 


Rumors that the Bush administration has been considering moving NIPC out of the
FBI have been circulating for about a year, the sources said. But simply moving
NIPC out of the FBI won?t solve its information sharing and communication
problems. ?It?s like talking to a brick wall up there,? one source said.


In his letter, Grassley said he ?and others in Congress would view
implementation of this plan as a classic example of FBI jurisdictional
encroachment: diverting funds and personnel from one unit with a clear mission
to other units with a very different mission, and laying primary claim to a
crime issue that is high profile, second only to terrorism, that many other
agencies handle as well,? Grassley wrote. ?If you feel the FBI needs more
resources to investigate computer and Internet crimes you should make your case
to Congress.?


According to an FBI spokesman, the agency will respond to Grassley by March 22,
as he requested in his letter.
****************
Government Executive
House passes contractor telecommuting bill