White House Attempts to Break Cybersecurity Stalemate
The White House and leaders from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Security Agency (NSA) threw their weight behind the floundering Senate Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) Wednesday. Meanwhile, the bill’s sponsors held a series of meetings at the Capitol with Senate negotiators and the opponents of the bill to try to reach an accord before the chamber leaves for its August recess. The Senate was expected to hold a cloture vote on Thursday to consider the bill.
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The White House urged the Senate to pass S-3414 this week in order to “give our cybersecurity professionals the tools they need to keep the nation safe,” in a statement released Wednesday. The U.S. homeland security adviser to President Barack Obama, John Brennan, said the administration has “continually made clear that we are open to alternative approaches so long as Congress gives our professionals the legislative tools they need to address cybersecurity risks to our critical infrastructure without sacrificing privacy and civil liberties."
S-3414 will help secure the nation from cyberattacks because it contains three essential elements, said Brennan in a call with reporters. The bill authorizes new information sharing frameworks between the private and public sector that “preserves citizens’ privacy rights”; it offers “meaningful improvements” to the cybersecurity of the nation’s critical infrastructure systems; and offers “clear authorities” to DHS to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure.
"We view the threat as real and we need to act now,” said Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency. There has been “20-fold increase in attacks on critical infrastructure” from 2009 to 2011, Alexander said in the White House press call. “What concerns me is ... the evolution of these cyberevents from exploitation to disruption and our concern is that they are going towards destruction which would have significant impact not only Wall Street but on our critical infrastructure like the electrical grid and others,” he said.
Jane Holl Lute, deputy secretary of DHS, agreed: “Let’s be really clear the status quo is unacceptable with respect to cybersecurity and action needs to be taken now.” The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team receives a phone call “about once every 90 seconds” concerning cyberattacks against U.S. assets, she said.
Separately U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey urged the “immediate passage” of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation, in a letter Wednesday to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. (http://xrl.us/bnizug). “Because the military relies on this infrastructure to defend the nation, we cannot afford to leave our electricity grid and transportation system vulnerable to attack,” he wrote. But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., separately questioned the credibility of Dempsey’s opinion: “This is the same General Dempsey that tried to convince me the surge wouldn’t work in Baghdad in 2006.”
McCain and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, rushed to a series of meetings Wednesday with Senate negotiators Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and S-3414 sponsors, Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. McCain told reporters that some progress had been made in convincing the bill’s sponsors that “you have to have the business community on board,” as he walked to a meeting in the Hugh Scott room at the Capitol. “I think there is plenty of path forward,” he said. “But to have a process on an issue of this magnitude and not even allow an amendment is not how the Senate is supposed to function. And members resent that,” he said.
Lawmakers have narrowed their differences over the bill down to “three or four issues that can be worked out over time,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor. “Among them are liability; another one is information sharing,” he said. “But I think it’s important for us to recognize in this debate that the people who are most directly affected in many respects is the business community. And it is important that we have their input and satisfy at least to a significant degree those concerns,” he said. McCain added that he plans to “continue non-stop rounds of meetings and discussions to try to get this issue resolved. At this moment there are still significant differences.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., admitted in a floor speech that it would be a “big lift” to vote on and approve the bill before the Senate adjourns for recess Aug. 3. “I'm asking only for a little humility on both sides, on the private sector and the public sector,” Durbin said. “I hope we get this done this week.”