The new rules will outline new restrictions on civilian and military employees carrying cellular telephones, pagers and handheld computers while working, even devices that employees bought themselves and carry for their personal convenience at work, said John P. Stenbit, the assistant defense secretary for command, control, communications and intelligence.

Stenbit, who also is the Pentagon's chief information officer, disclosed the upcoming rules Tuesday after a technology conference in Washington focusing on security problems of wireless devices. Stenbit said the new rules would be announced within a month.

In an earlier speech at the same conference, President Bush's top cyber-security adviser, Richard Clarke, said the technology industry was acting irresponsibly by selling wireless tools such as computer network devices that remain remarkably easy for hackers to attack.

[ Read more ]