Mr. President, the cybersecurity legislation Senator Thune and I introduce today is built upon several years of bipartisan hard work on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. I…
Mr. President, the cybersecurity legislation Senator Thune and I introduce today is built upon several years of bipartisan hard work on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. I am proud of that fact and proud of our work product.
I would like to sincerely thank Senator Thune for working closely with me on this legislation. Senator Thune appreciates the gravity of the cybersecurity threat to our national security and our economy--a genuine threat to the free flow of commerce. He has been laser focused in finding workable, private sector led solutions to mitigate this existential threat.
Our bill will go a long way to better secure our nation from ongoing cyber threats by having the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, a world-class, non-regulatory agency within the Department of Commerce--facilitate and support the development of voluntary, industry-led standards and best practices to reduce cyber risks to critical infrastructure and all businesses.
Our bill will give NIST the permanent authority it needs to continue the standards development process initiated by the President's Executive Order on Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity to ensure such efforts remain industry led and voluntary.
It will also make sure that the Federal Government supports cutting edge research, works to increase public awareness, and improves our workforce to better address cyber threats.
Our country's future economic success and security demands prompt attention to the cyber threat. It demands we all pull together to face the reality of cyber intrusions into every aspect of our nation's business, our electric grid, our trade secrets, our water supply, and so much more. The stakes are great. This is about our national security--3 Directors of National Intelligence have said cyber attacks are the number 1 national security threat to our country. That is why we have to find a way to reach a consensus that allows us to responsibly legislate.
This bill is a very good start. There is a lot more we can and should do to protect our critical infrastructure, including promoting more sharing of private sector threat information. I will certainly keep looking for ways to work with my colleagues to provide this nation with the tools and resources we need to take on this threat.
Again, I thank Senator Thune for dedicating his time, talent, and energy to this legislation, and his fine staff.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
