Senate Democrats Urge Cybersecurity Executive Order

The Senate’s failure to advance the bill marks another defeat for Democrats who sought to create new federal laws and tools to spur owners and operators of core critical infrastructure to secure their computer networks from attack. This summer, lawmakers failed to compromise on the provisions of S-3414 primarily due to opposition from Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which said the legislation would create new, costly mandates for businesses (CD Aug 3 p3).

Following the vote Reid, said he hoped Obama “uses all the authority of the executive branch at his disposal to fully protect our nation from the cybersecurity threat.” The lead author of S-3414, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., also urged the president in a speech given on the Senate floor to issue an order to establish cybersecurity standards for “all eighteen critical infrastructure sectors and [require] that those standards be implemented in certain already-regulated areas.” Lieberman said an executive order “leaves much to be desired [but] it is far preferable to inaction.” Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in a separate statement also called on the president to “employ all available executive means to strengthen our economic and national security.”

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel said in an email statement that congressional inaction on the issue “may” require the administration to issue an executive order. “We think the risk is too great for the administration not to act. The president is determined to protect our nation against cyber threats, and at his direction, we are exploring ways for executive branch departments and agencies to more effectively secure the nation’s critical infrastructure by working collaboratively with the private sector. An [executive order] is one way to improve such collaborative efforts, however an [executive order] is not a substitute for new legislation,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged Reid to try again in December. “My hope is that the Majority Leader will work with me to reach an agreement on allowing a debate on cybersecurity legislation with Republican amendments in order,” he said in a press release Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnzud6). “My expectation is that sometime in December after we have completed floor debate on the Defense Authorization bill, and then dispose of the Intelligence Authorization bill, we will then attempt to get an agreement on amendments to the cybersecurity bill.” Reid’s spokesman said McConnell’s statement was “nothing but empty talk aimed at deflecting the blame Republicans deserve for putting politics ahead of national security."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a floor speech that Wednesday’s vote felt “a little like the movie ‘Groundhog Day.'” “The majority intends to push the same flawed legislation that failed to garner enough votes for consideration three months ago.” In July, Grassley and other sponsors of the alternative SECURE IT Act led the Republican opposition to S- 3414 prior to the last cloture vote of the bill (CD July 27 p5).

Five Democrats voted against invoking cloture on S-3414 and some of them said the bill would create new privacy concerns if it passed unamended. The five Democrats are: Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jon Tester of Montana, and Ron Wyden of Oregon. Each of those senators voted against S-3414 in the August cloture vote. Merkley voted against cloture the second time because the bill still “needs improvement,” he said in a statement following the vote. “The bill provides private companies with broad new authority to collect and monitor Americans’ communications, while failing to require industry to make changes which would better protect our nation’s infrastructure,” he said. Tester said the bill does “not go far enough to protect law-abiding Montanans’ right to privacy.”