The House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on Thursday to discuss aspects of the U.S. government's Cyber Initiative, a classified program ordered by President Bush in an effort to boost the security of federal networks and systems. Among the government officials who testified at the hearing was Karen Evans, who serves as the de facto federal CIO in her capacity as administrator of e-government and IT at the White House Office of Management and Budget. In an interview with Computerworld Friday, Evans discussed the hearing and parts of the Cyber Initiative, including the involvement of the National Security Agency (NSA) and a plan to broaden the use of the government's Einstein network monitoring system and upgrade it by adding real-time threat-detection capabilities. Excerpts follow: