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DATE=2/11/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CLINTON - INTERNET SECURITY (L) NUMBER=2-259069 BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: President Clinton will meet with leaders of the high-tech industry next week to discuss enhancing Internet security following this week's attacks on major web sites. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the White House. Text: Mr. Clinton will convene the White House meeting Tuesday, bringing together internet executives and key members of his administration - including National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Attorney General Janet Reno and Commerce Secretary William Daley. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart says the session will consider both short-term and long-term efforts to improve Internet security. The meeting comes in response to a series of attacks this week on some of the largest and most popular sites on the web - including Yahoo, the largest independent web site, the retailer Buy-dot-com, and the news site CNN-dot-com. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the matter. In an appearance before reporters Friday, Mr. Clinton said he is not surprised by the attacks given that so much commerce and other activity takes place on the Web. /// CLINTON ACTUALITY /// This greater openness and speed of the system, and the importance of it, have necessarily made for greater vulnerability for people who are just mischievous and people who have far darker motives. This is no different from any other development in human history. If you go back from the beginning of time, where things of value are stored, people with bad motives will try to get to those things of value. /// END ACT /// The President - whose 2001 budget contains a two billion dollar plan to protect the Internet from so-called cyber- hackers - says he does not believe there will be what he calls `an instantaneous solution' to the problem, but rather a general improvement in Internet security over time. /// CLINTON ACTUALITY /// This will be an ongoing effort to try to make sure we get all the benefits of the Internet, all the benefits of the computer revolution, but we develop better defenses and better defenders, and I believe we will do that. /// END ACT /// White House spokesman Lockhart says he believes Congress will back the administration's efforts, although members of the Republican majority have been known to oppose greater government oversight of the Web in favor of more self- policing among Internet companies. In a series of interviews with major newspapers published Friday, Mr. Clinton says he has worked hard to assure that the Internet is not unduly burdened by government regulation or taxation. But he says it is necessary for an open system like the Web to have safeguards against intrusion. (Signed) NEB/DAT/LTD/JO 11-Feb-2000 15:24 PM EDT (11-Feb-2000 2024 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .