Rockefeller Cybersecurity Bill Will Be Basis for Senate Compromise, says Mikulski
The Senate will focus on cybersecurity legislation proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., over that offered by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., as the lead for cybersecurity reform, predicted Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., at a cybersecurity forum Tuesday in Washington. Rockefeller’s bill will get the nod because it’s more comprehensive than Lieberman’s, Mikulski said: It protects the .com realm, not just the .mil and .gov. But the Senate will probably spend next week working on the Kagan Supreme Court nomination and won’t have enough time to address cybersecurity until returning to Washington after Labor Day, she said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Comprehensive cybersecurity legislation won’t surface until after the recess, “but that will happen,” Rockefeller, Commerce Committee chairman, told us after a Democratic senators’ policy lunch Tuesday afternoon. “We've pretty much got that wrapped up,” and differences between the two major cybersecurity bills have “pretty much” been resolved by himself and Lieberman, said Rockefeller.
At the forum, Mikulski highlighted NIST and the Commerce Department leading private industry initiatives against cyberattacks. “We admire the work of the National Security Agency,” she said. “But it is a military agency, a security agency. The private sector needs a civilian agency to go to.” NIST is the primary gateway of the private sector into government and is valuable precisely because it’s not a military agency, she said. NIST has a history of developing standards for protecting the safety and security of Americans, she said, noting its role in setting safety standards for buildings after the 9/11 attacks.
Mikulski announced at the forum that as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee she set aside $10 million to establish the National Cyber Security Center for Excellence at Maryland-based NIST. Mikulski also set aside $15 million for NIST to research emerging cybersecurity technology and threats. The Appropriations Committee approved the measures last week, she said.
The center will act as a bridge between private industry and the federal government on cybersecurity and will develop, evaluate and transfer the technology necessary to fight cyber crime, she said in a Monday press statement. She chose not to put it at the Department of Homeland Security because that’s a “security agency,” she said. Locating it at NIST also will give the private sector and academics access to best practices through a civilian agency, she said. NIST’s background is in developing private industry standards, she added.
"We're standing up the National Cyber Security Center for Excellence to protect America’s ideas and innovations from cyber terrorists, spies and thieves. A country that creates the standards, creates the products, creates the jobs and keeps the cyber thugs out,” Mikulski said. “NIST has a long history of developing standards to protect the American people, from mammogram technology to building construction after the terrible attacks of 9/11. By taking the lead on developing standards for combating cyber threats, NIST will make sure America’s industrial secrets stay safe and its companies stay competitive.”
Mikulski made her comments as negotiations continued between the Senate Commerce Committee and Homeland Security Committee staffers on harmonizing the Lieberman and Rockefeller bills. Homeland Security Committee spokesperson Leslie Phillips declined to comment on Mikulski’s remarks. “While staffs are negotiating a bill, they believe it is best not to talk about it in public,” she said. There are daily meetings on the subject, Phillips said.