Every Congress in the last decade or so has been trying to pass cybersecurity legislation. The 111th Congress is no different.
The latest attempt – S. 3480 – was introduced in the Senate on June 10 and approved by Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 26. A related bill – H.R. 5548 – has been moving through the House.
Called the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset, the bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications within the Department of Homeland Security. The Director of that Center would be responsible for working with the private sector and leading the federal effort to secure, protect, and ensure the resiliency of the federal and national information infrastructure.
The bill also requires the federal government to develop and implement a strategy to ensure that the information technology products and services it purchases each year (about $80 billion worth) are secure. It reforms the way federal cyber security personnel are recruited, hired, and trained. And the bill establishes a National Office of Cyberspace Policy , within the Executive Office, to be led by a Senate-appointed director.
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Sen. Joe Lieberman (CT), the bill’s sponsor, refuted the “Internet kill switch” assertion as “misinformation”. And the committee published a “myth vs. reality” fact sheet on the bill. Nevertheless, many experts think the bill’s language is so vague that the possibility of a “kill switch” cannot be ruled out.
With two strong cybersecurity bills moving through both houses, the odds have never been better for the 111th Congress to do what no previous Congress has been able to accomplish. But with the August recess and the coming election year campaigns entering high gear, the possibility that cybersecurity legislation will pass remains debatable.
To read the full text of S. 3840, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.3480:.