National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I have spent almost 9 years, or a little bit over 9 years, as an undercover officer in the CIA. I chased al Qaeda, Taliban. Towards the end of my career, we started spending a lot more time focusing on cyber criminals, Russian organized crime, state sponsors of terror like Iran.

What this bill does is it helps in the protection of our digital infrastructure, both public and private, against this increasing threat.

I had the opportunity to help build a cybersecurity company, and seeing the threats to our infrastructure is great. This bill, which I rise in support of, is going to create that framework in order for the public and the private sector to work together against these threats.

When I was doing this for a living, you give me enough time, I am going to get in your network. We have to change our mindset and begin with the presumption of breach. How do we stop someone? How do we detect someone getting in our system? How do we corral them? And how do we kick them off? H.R. 1731 is a great start in doing this and making sure that we have the right protections.

We also are helping small- and medium-sized businesses with this bill, making sure that a lot of them have the resources that some larger businesses do and making sure that the Department of Homeland Security is providing as much information to them so that they can keep their company and their customers safe.

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Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for his work in making this amendment happen. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to H.R. 1731.

Cybersecurity is not just a buzzword. Oftentimes, large governments and governments have plans in place to mitigate and respond to cyber threats, but many smaller State and local entities do not. This is why I cosponsored and stand in support of Representative Castro's amendment to H.R. 1731.

Five leading universities across the Nation have teamed up to face these cyber issues head on, including the University of Texas at San Antonio and my alma mater, Texas A&M University.

The proposed consortium would provide valuable training to local and first responders in the event of a catastrophic cyber attack. It would also provide technical assistance services to build and sustain capabilities in support of cybersecurity preparedness and response, and it would coordinate with other crucial entities, such as the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and NCCIC.

It is clear that we must focus on cyber preparedness not only at the Federal level, but the local level as well.

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