Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOSWELL. Thank you, I appreciate the correction. We grow corn in Iowa, and we grow potatoes in Idaho. A little bit of fun.

I rise to speak in support of this bill today. I look across at Chairman Rogers and here at Ranking Member Ruppersberger, and I have great confidence. I know these men. I know their staff. They've come to this very serious matter that lays before our country that we need to understand. We must take action.

I'm encouraged by the process to involve key stakeholders from private industry and privacy groups during this drafting. This transparent engagement shaped many of the bipartisan constructive amendments being considered today that will improve the bill, and it's a good thing.

The threat from malicious actors in cyberspace is real. You've heard it said over and over already by those who have spoken ahead of me. I concur with what they say. It's an absolutely real thing. You only need to pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV to see the threats facing our networks. These networks include those that power our homes, our factories, and our small businesses, allow our banking system to function and provide the very backbone to our current American way of life, and we rely on these networks every day.

The bill under consideration today is a very narrow piece, but what we can agree on is it's a critical one to helping secure our networks and, therefore, the way of life as we know it today.

There are continuing debates on how to implement the bill, but the debate isn't over what needs to be done; it must be done. Information we ask our intelligence community to use and that protects our government networks should, in a secure way, be shared to protect the many other critical networks we rely on.

I believe companies are doing what they can to protect their networks to the extent they can today, but there is more that must be done.

We cannot be in a situation where the government had information to prevent or mitigate a catastrophic cyberattack, and yet we did not have the procedure in place to share this information. Our American way of life includes a great respect for privacy and our civil liberties. We make no mistake about that.

This bill, with the addition of many of the amendments which were drafted in concert with privacy groups, addresses many of those concerns.

In addition, the annual unclassified report required by the statutory intelligence community inspector general will inform whether there are additional adjustments needed to be made.

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