The president could issue an executive order on cybersecurity, an aide said Wednesday. Also that day, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., asked President Barack Obama to issue an order to secure the electrical power system from cyberattacks. John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, suggested that the White House was considering such an option. The Senate last week failed to vote on the Cybersecurity Act (S-3414). Republicans filibustered against it on GOP and business concerns it would give the federal government too much control through the Department of Homeland Security over what companies could do to protect computers and networks (WID Aug 2 p1).
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for Aug. 8. Note that some may also be given separate headlines)
The 700 MHz waiver order released by the FCC last Monday approved the interoperability showings of Charlotte, N.C., and Harris County, Texas. The order otherwise did little to smooth their way to starting early first responder networks, officials said. Meanwhile, government and public safety officials told us, there appears to be no real accounting of how much the 21 700 MHz waiver recipients have spent so far on the groundwork to build out networks that may well never start.
Hopes for a comprehensive cybersecurity bill collapsed Thursday as the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) by a 52-47 vote. Sponsors and opponents of the bill were unable to agree on the best way to secure critical infrastructure from attack, despite a flurry of last-minute meetings to hammer out a solution to their differences. Though members said they would continue to refine the bill, the Senate leaves on recess Friday without a clear path forward on cybersecurity and won’t return until September when the electoral season will be in high gear.
Hopes for a comprehensive cybersecurity bill collapsed Thursday as the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) by a 52-47 vote. Sponsors and opponents of the bill were unable to agree on the best way to secure critical infrastructure from attack, despite a flurry of last-minute meetings to hammer out a solution to their differences. Though members said they would continue to refine the bill, the Senate leaves on recess Friday without a clear path forward on cybersecurity and won’t return until September when the electoral season will be in high gear.
On Aug. 1 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The White House and leaders from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Security Agency (NSA) threw their weight behind the floundering Senate Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) Wednesday. Meanwhile, the bill’s sponsors held a series of meetings at the Capitol with Senate negotiators and the opponents of the bill to try to reach an accord before the chamber leaves for its August recess. The Senate was expected to hold a cloture vote on Thursday to consider the bill.
The White House and leaders from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Security Agency (NSA) threw their weight behind the floundering Senate Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) Wednesday. Meanwhile, the bill’s sponsors held a series of meetings at the Capitol with Senate negotiators and the opponents of the bill to try to reach an accord before the chamber leaves for its August recess. The Senate was expected to hold a cloture vote on Thursday to consider the bill.
The Food and Drug Administration is amending its regulations to comply with statutory amendments to the device registration and listing provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), it said in a Federal Register notice. It said the change would facilitate FDA's collection of additional registration information from foreign establishments as required by the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act and update rules to improve the quality of registration and listing information available to FDA.
U.K. government thinking on broadband rollout has veered off course because of its focus on “superfast” services and a failure to consider broadband as a “major strategic asset” equal to roads, railways and energy networks, the House of Lords Communications Committee said in a report Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnivqn). It recommended the creation of open-access fiber hubs to drive broadband as close as possible to users. It also said that at some point it may be better to move TV broadcasting to Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), to free spectrum for mobile uses. The government said it’s on the right track. One analyst called the report ambitious but inconsistent, while a former FCC official cheered lawmakers for starting a public debate on the issues.