Conte, Vecchione, the foundation of 007s and the fight for EU cyber funds

19 November 20203 years ago babelfish

What lies behind the tensions that run through the government and Dis on the IIC (Italian Cybersecurity Institute), the so-called foundation of the 007s. Facts, names, rumors and analyzes

“Excerpted, but not archived at all. The Italian Institute of Cybersecurity, removed from the draft budget law with the same haste with which it was put there, could reappear in a location, if possible, even more unusual for a rule that affects the delicate matter of intelligence. The maxi-amendment to the Maneuver, that is the plethora of last-minute changes on which the government usually raises the question of trust ”.

This is the scenario outlined today by the newspaper la Repubblica on the so-called Italian foundation of 007.

In essence, the project of the "foundation of 007" goes ahead, according to the daily directed by Maurizio Molinari who is following the story closely, unlike for example the Corriere della Sera: "Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte does not give up. The director of the Information Security Department (Dis) made it clear during yesterday morning's hearing at the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (Copasir) ”, added Repubblica .

The Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic – chaired by the Northern League leader Raffaele Volpi – had urgently summoned the premier because he had learned with delay of the decision to create the Institute through the instrument of the Budget law, "thus bypassing the prior opinion of the Committee and without communicating anything to the directors of Aise and Aisi, our secret services ", the newspaper of the Gedi group remarked:" An ungrammatical blitz, reminiscent of last summer, when the extension of the top positions of the two agencies appeared in the Covid emergency decree. Conte, however, preferred to send the prefect Gennaro Vecchione, head of the Dis, who spoke before the parliamentarians "on behalf of the Prime Minister." A choice, according to some members of the Committee, "very unusual" ".

Vecchione, during yesterday's hearing at Copasir, presented the IIC as a fundamental piece of the national cyber architecture and the definitive completion of the National Cyber Security Perimeter. With the legal form of the foundation and an initial endowment of 10 million euros – while in the first draft of the law the multi-year endowment reached 201 million euros – taken from the residual budget of the Presidency of the Council, the Institute was created to "promote the 'increase in technological, industrial and scientific skills and abilities "and is subject to the supervision of the Dis as regards" the technical-operational activity ":" This aspect has raised the perplexities of Guerini, Franceschini and Bonetti in the Council of Ministers three days ago ”, added journalist Fabio Tonacci in the newspaper directed by Molinari.

The issue of governance is intertwined with that of management: who and how will manage the European funds that will flow into the Italian Institute for cybersecurity?

Not surprisingly, Vecchione reiterated to Copasir the importance of the birth of the Institute both to counter "hostile foreign interference" and to intercept the millions of the Recovery Fund. Vecchione's ideas match the position of the magazine Formiche by Paolo Messa (Leonardo's top manager) specialized in defense and security (Vecchione at the party for the 100 issues of the magazine was the guest of honor as can be seen from this photo shoot also by Dagospia ): “The EU Competence Center needs a“ network ”of European centers, one per Member State, to work with. Italy, to date, does not have one. No center, no European funds for cybersecurity. This, not a few seats, is the void that the Dis and government foundation is a candidate to fill ”, wrote Formiche yesterday.

A papal insider who asks for anonymity: “If the EU does not have an Italian national reference for the Miter-European style, what can we do? No sghei, no party ”( here the analysis of the analyst Arcangelo Milito for Start Magazine on the American example of the Miter ).

Some observers read the tensions over Iic as a premise for turmoil over other games, always in the service sector: "The appointment of Vecchione, highly esteemed by Conte, expires in December – wrote Marco Ludovico del Sole 24 Ore – his renewal it is more than reasonable. Then – for months – there have been two free deputy seats in Aise to fill and one available in Aisi from 1 December. A fourth appointment is also possible, as a deputy to the Dis, if a series of hypotheses of displacements fit together. Can the controversy over the Foundation affect this number of names? It's not for sure. Conte does not want to break with the majority, on the contrary, but the power of appointment belongs to him. Immediately after comes the most suggestive challenge, all political. The one for the successor of General Gianni Nistri – expires in mid-January – under the general command of the Arma ”.

There are those who bet in the majority of the government that Pd and Italia Viva will make Conte's pentastellate dances dance again. It will be like this? We will see.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/conte-vecchione-la-fondazione-degli-007-e-la-lotta-per-i-fondi-ue-cyber-a-iic/ on Thu, 19 Nov 2020 14:37:20 +0000.