Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - Approximately 120 participants from the U.S., Western and East European ministries and other agencies, responsible for automated information security, will gather at the Perlach Mecure Hotel, east of Munich, March 15-17, for a three-day cyber security conference.

The conference, titled “Political-Military Dimensions of Cyber Security,” is designed to provoke debate, dialogue and action on the challenges presented by information technologies, discuss national security threats to critical technology infrastructure and present the case for a private sector/government partnership in protecting infrastructures.

Among the featured speakers is Larry Hale, Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security, National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). In late January, NCSD unveiled the National Cyber Alert System, an operational system delivering to Americans timely and actionable information to better secure their computer systems.

The National Cyber Alert System is a partnership between NCSD and the private sector that provides the first infrastructure for relaying graded computer security update and warning information to all users. The new system is America's first coordinated national cyber security system for identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing emerging vulnerabilities and threats.

The conference, organized by the Marshall Center in cooperation with the U.S. European Command and the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration, is the third in a series designed to address the impact of the Information Age on the national security system of a state. A previous approach to the topic addressed the opportunities and challenges faced by the former Soviet Union in taking advantage of Information Technologies to enhance security.

Media are invited to cover the opening and closing remarks of Marshall Center Director, Dr. John P. Rose and other aspects of the conference. Opening remarks begin at 9:00 a.m. on the 15th. Media should arrive NLT 8:45 a.m. For accreditation and admittance, contact Charles Taylor at 00-49-8821-750-543, mobile 00-49-1609-081-3766 or taylorc@marshallcenter.org, or check in on arrival.

The Marshall Center is a renowned U.S. Department of Defense and German Ministry of Defense educational institution. More than 3,000 military and civilian officials from 51 nations have graduated from resident courses and approximately 10,500 have attended over 183 conferences discussing European and Central Asian security issues since the center was dedicated in 1993.