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Senate aide says cybersecurity bill is moving

By Andrew Noyes CongressDaily October 19, 2009

Legislation to help the government and private sector better prepare for and respond to high-tech attacks against communications infrastructure has a shot at Senate passage this year despite the crowded calendar and potential turf wars, a top Senate aide said on Monday.

"Between health care, climate change and a number of huge issues of the day, it can't be lost that this is a critically important issue," said Senate Commerce Committee General Counsel Bruce Andrews at a briefing sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. "We've got to focus and do it."

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, introduced a broad cybersecurity bill in April, but it underwent major changes during the August recess and is being fine-tuned.

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Andrews said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee leaders have been crafting proposals as Rockefeller and Snowe have focused on the healthcare debate. The issue requires "real cooperation" among committees, he said.

An August e-mail from Andrews to outside groups said the Commerce Committee was aiming for a hearing and a markup in September or October. Some industry players were told last month that the panel hoped to circulate a fresh draft and vote on the bill before the end of October. But Andrews said Monday he did not want to set arbitrary deadlines, adding that Rockefeller had instructed him to "move it when we get it right."

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, will soon unveil a measure that would give the Homeland Security Department, rather than a White House czar, primary authority to protect federal civilian and private computer networks. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., plans to outline his bill at a Chamber of Commerce speech on Oct. 30, but he and Collins will likely work out a compromise.

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  • This bill is a pipedream Will be opposed or even vetoed by the Administration. As for DHS and cyber security (one of the primary rationales for creating DHS) cyber security has been a step-child since day one because of the lack of regulatory and standard setting authority in DHS. It is a myth that the private sector controls 85% of critical infrastructure. Most of the cyber world and critical infrastructure has some Federal funding behind it. The whole cyber security is a sham with the feds paying for the essential venture capital needed by the private sector to help loot those who are dependent on IT and of course security is one of the last concerns of the private sector unless Uncle Sugar pays for it. William R. Cumming Posted October 21, 2009 9:44 AM
  • Whose house of cards has the most to lose in this light of day? For those who know what I know, this bill makes total sense. Kinda like Nazi mass murderers trying to hide their past deeds and future plans from the people. The German Nazis didn't have the internet, but they did had books. The fascists of today are one in the same. The internet is the single most powerful weapon to defend ourselves with. If Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, amongst others, had the internet in their time, what would they have done with it? Destroying it, is too obvious. To CONTROL it, in the name of national security is an easy sell to the ignorant masses. Give it a name like CYBER SECURITY. Who can be against that? The saxon game is slow. But that is why it seems to work. Little by little, liberty will fail, if people stay ignorant in apathy. If you fail to wake up, you will love your new home. If you wake up at all, you'll realize that you've lost everything, except freedom. tim gallien Posted October 19, 2009 7:45 PM
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