CybersecurityThe administration set to issue a cybersecurity executive order

Published 4 October 2012

President Obama issued a proclamation the other day making October National Cyber Security Awareness month. The administration’s efforts to push a cybersecurity bill through Congress, however, have so far failed, so the administration is opting for a solution other administrations have adopted in the face of a recalcitrant Congress: executive order

Administration is considering using executive order power // Source: svijetsigurnosti.com

President Obama issued a proclamation the other day making October National Cyber Security Awareness month. The administration’s efforts to push a cybersecurity bill through Congress, however, have so far failed, so the administration is opting for a solution other administrations have adopted in the face of a recalcitrant Congress: executive order.

The Los Angeles Times reports the White House is now drafting an executive order which will implement many of the clauses in the stalled Cyber Security Act of 2012, which got stymied in Congress in August.

“We are very cognizant that in some industries there exist already regulatory authorities that can be used for cyber security,” DHS secretary Janet Napolitanotold the press at the National Journal’s Cyber Security Summit. “What we want to do is make sure that the core critical infrastructure of the country protects itself.”

The order, a draft of which was obtained by the AP,has much of the same writing as the Cyber Security Act; such as protections places on vital infrastructure systems, voluntary standards for private companies, and a HMS council with representatives from various departments to assess and report on cyber security threats.

Among the critics of Obama’s executive order are the two senators who sponsored the Cyber Security Act of 2012 —  Susan Collins (R-Maine) and  Joe Lieberman(I-Connecticut.).

“The executive order is a big mistake. First of all, the executive order cannot grant the liability protections that are needed in order to encourage more participation by the private sector, so the executive order simply cannot accomplish what legislation can,” Collins told an audience at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., on Monday. “In addition, an executive order is not lasting, and it doesn’t reflect a consensus by Congress on what should be done.”

Republican senators, who blocked the act in the Senate when it was considered in August, also object to the administration’s executive order. John McCain (R-Arizona), Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) sent a letter to Obama last weekexpressing their concerns about the order and calling for the administration to continue negotiations with Congress .

Privacy advocates have also fought against the Cyber Security Act, the most outspoken group being the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU).

“Any action by any occupant of the White House on an executive order that mandates the collection of data across federal agencies worries me,” ACLU executive director Anthony Romero told the Times on Monday. “It’s not going to be President Obama forever, and we’ve had President Bush, and when you use executive order powers for good reasons, you’ll find them used and turned right on us for bad reasons.”

The Obama administrators said it will not comment on “ongoing internal deliberations” and maintained that the executive order is just “one of a number of measures” under consideration when it comes to cyber security.