Walden Working Group Nears Cybersecurity Recommendations
The cybersecurity working group of the House Communications Subcommittee aims to finish its work by the end of the month or early April, multiple Capitol Hill officials said. The group has held several staff-level meetings this month with stakeholders from across the tech sector and, at minimum, plans to release recommendations for the subcommittee, Hill and telecom industry officials said. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., has said he formed the group to make recommendations on several cyberissues including Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), securing the supply chain and a voluntary code of conduct and best practices for network operators.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
"Staff and members continue to meet,” a Walden spokeswoman said Monday. “Members of the Working Group were not tasked with looking at specific legislation, but rather, meeting with stakeholders and industry experts. The more information we gather, the more equipped we will be to combat this issue.” Lawmakers on the working group met once for an organizational meeting and plan to meet again this week, a House aide said. The members are Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Lee Terry, R-Neb., Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Bob Latta, R-Ohio, Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Walden is an ex-officio member.
The meetings are happening at the same time as a broader House cybersecurity effort coordinated by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas. They are also occurring while Walden’s Commerce Committee colleagues Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., prepare their own cybersecurity bill based on the Senate’s Secure IT Act. Bono Mack and Blackburn are members of Walden’s subcommittee but not his working group. Bono Mack chairs the Manufacturing Subcommittee.
"A number of subcommittees are looking at the different aspects of cybersecurity and how to address the various issues,” the Walden spokeswoman said. “The outcome of these discussions and meetings will help shed light on the next step forward.” Hill and industry officials disagreed on the level of coordination between the Walden group and Bono Mack and Blackburn. Some said they haven’t detected any, while one House aide said there has been coordination in the sense that committee staff is talking. A Bono Mack spokesman said his boss’s effort is “separate” from that of the working group.
Working group staff has met with many stakeholders individually from across the tech sector, with the first meetings on March 9, a telecom industry official said. The working group has called in stakeholders from major trade associations, ISPs, network supply chain companies and major wireless carriers like Sprint Nextel, the telecom industry official said. The staff-level meetings were still happening late last week, the official said.
The working group is in “listening mode,” and meetings have mainly involved staff asking stakeholders questions, the telecom industry official said. In the meeting in which the industry official participated, staff sought feedback on the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee and the FCC. They asked whether the committee should address the issue with oversight or legislation, the official said. While the working group has left open the possibility of legislation, the group’s final product seems more likely to be a summary of stakeholder feedback and recommendations, the official said.
The working group appears to be trying to move quickly, but meetings with stakeholders may be taking longer than expected, the telecom industry official said. A wireless industry official noted that a recent meeting with one carrier lasted about 90 minutes.