InfrastructureSenators compete over critical infrastructure cybersecurity bill

Published 5 March 2012

Lawmakers are currently struggling to come to a consensus on which government agency should be in charge of securing the nation’s cyber infrastructure

Lawmakers are currently struggling to cometo a consensus on which government agency should be in charge of securing the nation’s cyber infrastructure.

Last month, the Senate Homeland Security Committee introduced a bill designating DHS as the lead agency responsible for regulating and securing critical computer networks. When the bill was introduced Senator John McCain (R – Arizona) and several other Republican lawmakers criticized the bill and introduced the SECURE IT Act in response.

The SECURE IT Act, introduced by Senator McCain and several other Republican senators including Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, does not designate a single agency to coordinate federal cybersecurity efforts, instead it relies on incentives to encourage companies to comply with security regulations.

As our nation faces increasing cyberattack in a critical economic environment, we must ensure that the private sector has the authority it needs to defend its own networks and share cyberthreat information to prevent future attacks,” Chambliss said.

The supporters of the initial Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity Act of 2012 are pushing back by urging Senate leaders to take up consideration of the bill as soon as possible.

Under the Lieberman-Collins bill, DHS would be tasked with ensuring critical infrastructure operators are implementing proper cybersecurity measures. Critics argue that the bill did not go far enough with its “self-reporting” measures and Senator McCain argued that placing an additional cybersecurity department within the the “regulatory leviathan at DHS” would be a mistake. Ironically, the competing cybersecurity bill proposed by Republican senators requires even less government involvement than the Lieberman-Collins bill.