Hearing of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee - DHS' Efforts to Secure .Gov

Hearing

Today, Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie G.
Thompson (D-MS) delivered the following prepared remarks for the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure
Protection, and Security Technologies subcommittee hearing entitled "DHS' Efforts to Secure .Gov":

"I thank the leadership of this Subcommittee for continuing to focus on our nation's most pressing cyber
vulnerabilities - protecting our nation's critical infrastructure systems, and protecting citizens and federal
workers and their personal information. Over the past few months, the Committee has found the repeated
news that some of our most valuable government agencies have been infiltrated, and government
employees' detailed personal information have been exposed quite appalling.

We have seen the Internal Revenue Service breached. At the Defense Department, Secretary Carter has
told us about the Russian's hacking from earlier this year, and now, we have a multi-layered exposure of
federal workers exposed in an Office of Personnel Management incident. Our networks and databases
cannot be protected by one protocol, one sophisticated procedure, or one magic arrow. We have
cybersecurity programs in place, but for them to take hold, either in the private sector or across
government agencies, it will require leadership, cooperation, and accountability. For example, The
President's cybersecurity Executive Order 13636 has charged the Department of Homeland Security to be
the motivator, teacher, and implementer of the art and science of network and database security, across
the federal government.

However, for DHS to fulfill this mission, it has to engage with both the public and private sectors. I want to
hear more from Dr. Ozment on how DHS is fulfilling this mission, and how it has responded to previous
intrusions. It is important for all of us to remember that cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, and that no
single approach can protect us completely. Cyber threat protection is a complex and incomplete process
and it crosses several important intersections, especially regarding privacy and civil liberties.

As people and government become more dependent on technology, technology-based opportunities for
crime, espionage, and physical disruption will most certainly increase. Today, some contend that greater
security means ceding some degree of personal privacy, or vice versa. But in my book, cybersecurity
enables privacy--because it protects individuals, companies, and governments from malicious intrusions.

Privacy and security are not competing interests; we can and must do both. The United States can set a
positive example regarding the role that cybersecurity standards play globally, for both industry and
government. If we can develop effective, secure protocols and standards that are easily implemented, it
will represent an important opportunity for U.S. products around the globe.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the cost of these programs discussed today. All of this
cybersecurity effort does not come cheap. While the majority has seen fit to increase cybersecurity
funding by large amounts in some cases, House and Senate Republicans have started to show how they
plan to budget at discretionary levels for other programs.

Compared to the President's Budget, their budget will force cuts in areas critical to the economy, as well
as in national security priorities. Homeland security, peacekeeping efforts, defense and foreign
assistance will be impacted. These funding levels are the result of Congressional Republicans' decision
to lock in the funding cuts imposed by sequestration. As we all know, sequestration was never intended to
take effect: rather, it was supposed to threaten such drastic cuts to both defense and non-defense funding
that policymakers would be motivated to come to the table and reduce the deficit through smart, balanced
reforms. Unfortunately, the bills and appropriations targets released to date double-down on a very
different approach."

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