CybersecurityHouse panel to unveil cybersecurity bill

Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee are close to finalizing a long-awaited cybersecurity bill, following  extensive discussions with private companies, according to Representative Patrick Meehan (R-Pennsylvania), who heads the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies, and who is one of the authors of the bill.

The bill would confirm the role of DHS as a central point for cyberthreat information sharing between the federal government and the private sector. Meehan noted that he was working on the bill with Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Bloomberg BNAreports it has obtained the draft of the bill. The draft formally establishes DHS’s already-operating National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, which circulates cyberthreat and vulnerability data. The bill also calls for industry “councils” to develop and coordinate the enforcement of cybersecurity guidelines for key U.S. sectors.

BNA notes that in April, the House passed a cybersecurity bill (H.R. 624), introduced by Representatives Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Maryland), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House Intelligence Committee (12 PVLR 671, 4/22/13).

 Senator Thomas Carper (D-Delaware), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in the meantime said he will work with both Democratic and Republican senators to develop a broader cybersecurity legislation which would support initiatives put in motion by  President Obama’s February executive order.

The order calls for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a set of voluntary cybersecurity standards for operators of U.S. critical infrastructure.