Can the genie be contained?

Cyber security for the US, including the US Congress and Pentagon is underdeveloped.  The Congress was recently hacked and a Pentagon contractor was likewise hacked.  The House and Senate networks are especially vulnerable.  According to US News and World report, congress traffics about 500 emails each year.  The number of attacks has grown from 8 million attacks per month, in 2008, to 1.8 billion per month for 2011.  The Senate Sergeant At Arms claims the Congress is safe – they only allow 1.1 attacks through every day.  The Pentagon is suffering the same level of attacks, but instead of a centrally located facility akin to the Congress in Wash DC, the Pentagon has its facilities plus those of its contractors and subcontractors.  The recent theft of details for new weapons systems has Pentagon officials questioning whether they need to redesign the system.  One Pentagon official claimed that the new Pentagon initiatives for countering cyber warfare do not go far enough, that intrusion into Pentagon cyber did not penalize attackers.  The Official indicated that the current strategy is “purely defensive” and there is no penalty for attacking us.  The Official indicated that more aggressive cyber tactics, as well as legal and diplomatic measures are needed to “raise the price” of attacking.