CybersecurityCybersecurity bill supporters want a vote on bill in this Congress
Last week, lawmakers and top White House officials appeared in different events, conferences, and industry gatherings to promote the cyber security bill which has been stalled in the Senate since August; administration’s officials and lawmakers supporting the bill warned that the current situation leaves U.S. critical infrastructure and businesses vulnerable to attack from hackers and spies
Last week, lawmakers and top White House officials appeared in different events, conferences, and industry gatherings to promote the cyber security bill which has been stalled in the Senate since August. Administration’s officials and lawmakers supporting the bill warned that the current situation leaves U.S. critical infrastructure and businesses vulnerable to attack from hackers and spies.
Politico reports that at an industry conference on Tuesday, the White House’s top cybersecurity adviser, Michael Daniel said the increase of cyber attacks around the world marks a “significant escalation in the cyber threat.”
Daniel declined to discuss the possibility of the White House issuing a cybersecurity executive order, and whether or not such an order is coming, the administration and its supporters on the Hill are preparing for another vote on the bill next month.
“I think right now, we’ll find a way if we get the will,” Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) told Poilitico. “We’re developing the will because of the great sense of urgency.”
The coming election make he likelihood of a negotiated compromise remote, though.
The Obama administration has wrapped its campaign around naming October as National Cyber Awareness Month. Daniel gave a speech on Tuesday at the CyberMaryland 2012 conference, citing a number of attacks on U.S. and foreign entities stating that “No system is off limits.”
Mikulski also spoke at the conference, saying the lack of security could lead to a “digital Pearl Harbor.”
Mikulski is optimistic about the situation, however, saying that lawmakers from both parties have worked for months to try to bridge the differences between them. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and co-author of the cybersecurity bill, and General Keith Alexander, the head of the U.S. Cyber Command, have made new efforts to reach out to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed legislation.
Lieberman supports Reid’s decision to try and bring the bill to a vote in this Congress. “I appeal to our colleagues in the Senate and outside groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who have opposed cybersecurity legislation, to come to the negotiating table in the spirit of compromise so that together we can act to protect our country from cyberattack before it is too late,” Lieberman told Politico.
