The White House announced the launch of a new ethics portal, Ethics.gov on Thursday, fulfilling a promise made by President Obama during the 2008 campaign. The site will let users query seven databases including the White House visitor logs, lobbying disclosures, and campaign finance reports. Most of the data was previously available online, but now users can enter a person's name and with a single search find out whether they have lobbied, visited the White House or how much they've contributed to candidates for federal office. John Wonderlich, policy director for transparency watchdog the Sunlight Foundation, praised the administration for living up to their earlier pledge.

Report Highlights Chinese Cyber Threat: CQ Defense Executive Briefing editor John M. Donnelly flags a report (PDF) from Defense Department contractor Northrup Grumman that outlines the cyber threat posed by China against the nation's networks. The report was issued by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was established by Congress in 2000 and consistently criticizes Chinese policies. Donnelly notes cybersecurity happens to be one of Northrup Grumman's four core business areas, raising a possible conflict with its work writing such reports for Congressional panels. FBI Chief Spells Out Digital Threat To National Security: FBI Director Robert Mueller outlined the rapidly expanding cybersecurity threat on Wednesday during a budget hearing in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. Mueller said cybercrimes ranging from digital espionage by foreign states to identity theft against common Americans are growing far more common, with the agency seeing an 84 percent increase in investigations opened into computer intrusions over the past decade. He argued the FBI must be able to keep pace with this growing threat.