CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
June 11, 2012 – 10:30 p.m.
Industry Opposes Cybersecurity Plan
By Tim Starks, CQ Staff
A bipartisan attempt to split the difference between two competing Senate cybersecurity bills has run afoul of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the most influential groups in the debate over protecting computer networks.
While Majority Leader
At the center of the debate over the bills is how or whether to impose any new security standards on businesses that own the most vital digital infrastructure.
The new compromise effort, led by
The original Reid-backed bill (
Senators involved in drafting the compromise said their proposal is in the very early stages. “We are a work in progress,” said
But the Chamber of Commerce opposes the proposal as it stands, saying it is not really a compromise and that it would still impose new requirements on owners of covered critical infrastructure (CCI).
“The proposal is being marketed as ‘voluntary,’ but it would stipulate that owners and operators take certain actions involuntarily,” said Matthew Eggers, senior director of national security and emergency management at the Chamber. “In fact, a subset of CCI would be required by the federal government — due to some vague ‘national security need’ provision — to certify that it meets particular security mandates.”
Businesses have argued that mandates for defending computer networks would hamper both security and the economy. Proponents of security standards for critical infrastructure argue it is an essential need in any cybersecurity legislation.
Eggers added that the Whitehouse-Kyl proposal “would authorize federal officials to publish an assessment of the entity’s cybersecurity in ‘an appropriate form,’ which is incredibly problematic from a security point of view.”
Focus on Incentives
The Chamber backs the McCain bill, as well as a House-passed measure (
McCain said he agrees with the Chamber’s assessment that the compromise language is “too regulatory.” He said he wasn’t sure of the proposal’s chances of success. “It’s the 12th compromise I’ve seen,” he said.
Industry Opposes Cybersecurity Plan
Lieberman was more supportive. A spokeswoman said Lieberman’s “initial reaction was to welcome the proposal because it recognized the need to secure critical infrastructure and it even appeared to require baseline standards for critical infrastructure, the destruction of which would degrade national security.”
Whitehouse said he didn’t expect anyone to abandon their position until a final agreement was reached. “I don’t think anybody will be happy until everybody is happy,” he said.
But he did offer a reaction to the Chamber’s contention that the proposal is overly regulatory. “The position of the Chamber — that nothing should be done on critical infrastructure — has no support in either the Democratic or Republican national security community,” he said.
And the language is emerging from a broader bipartisan group than the other two bills. The McCain language’s cosponsors are the top Republicans on a number of Senate panels. The Lieberman bill is cosponsored by Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman
Whitehouse said it was “too early to say” whether the language might be offered as an amendment or whether it would expand to include other cybersecurity topics besides critical infrastructure protection.