Add another bill to the pile.
On Feb. 29th, 2012, Brendan Sasso reported for The Hill on a new cybersecurity proposal from Senate Republicans. According to the article, the bill (called the Secure IT Act) is backed by Sens. John McCain, Kay Baily Hutchinson, Chuck Grassley, Saxby Chambliss, Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Coats.
According to another article written by Brendan Sasso for The Hill, the Secure IT will NOT give DHS regulatory power over critical infrastructure. The article said that the Secure IT act will "improve information-sharing about cyberthreats and better secure government systems." The bill's backers are supposed to be holding a press conference today (3/1) to discuss the bill.
***
As of right now, information is sparse. I'll post updates after the news conference and if/when the bill text is posted.
I'm interested to see which federal entity (if any) will have cybersecurity responsibility. The Secure IT Act doesn't put cybersecurity responsibility in the DHS' hands. What about the NSA? One of the Secure IT Act's backers, Sen. McCain, was quite outspoken about the NSA having more power. Moreover, the NSA wants that power, and would have gotten it under a proposal rejected by the White House.
Leave a Reply