Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2952, the Cybersecurity
Workforce Assessment Act. H.R. 2952 was originally passed by the House
as the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Act of 2014.
The updated legislation passed this week by our Senate colleagues adds
important cybersecurity workforce provisions to the bill from what is
known as McCaul-Meehan, H.R. 3696.

As cyber attacks by hackers from around the world grow increasingly
sophisticated, it is more urgent than ever to improve our ability to
stop them. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security's National
Cybersecurity Communications and Integration Center, NCCIC, must
compete with big technology companies and cybersecurity firms for
cybersecurity workforce, while DHS is limited in its ability to attract
talented and well-trained cyber warriors.

H.R. 2952 will require the Secretary to assess the cybersecurity
workforce currently in DHS and develop a strategy to enhance it. The
assessment would look at cyber positions, readiness, training, types of
positions, and its ability to carry out its cyber mission, with the
ultimate goal of enhancing these capabilities and produce a recruitment
and implementation plan. Finally, the bill also requires the Secretary
to submit a report on the feasibility of establishing a cybersecurity
fellowship program.

This legislation along with the others we have brought up today are
important pieces in improving the overall capabilities of the
Department of Homeland Security and its ability to carry out its
cybersecurity mission. This is a critically important piece of
legislation which enables the Department of Homeland Security to
compete for what are very, very in-demand individuals with talent in
the area of cybersecurity and protections.

Most significantly, it allows us to have the kinds of quality of
individuals who can work in an equal capacity with the best of those who are in our other governmental institutions, and particularly those who are now working in the private sector. I believe that the capacity for DHS to attract these workers is critical to its mission. I continue to encourage the growth and development of that expertise.

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Mr. MEEHAN. I want to thank the gentleman for his kind words and for his
cooperation. The ranking member helped to set a tone for the
collaboration on the committee, along with the leadership of our
chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Texas. From the
beginning, our focus was on working together to find solutions to the
important issues which don't have a Democrat or a Republican unique
perspective. It is an American perspective for us to put the priority
on protecting our homeland.

I want to particularly express my appreciation to the ranking member
of our subcommittee, the gentlewoman from New York, for all of her
collaboration and the delightful manner in which we had to work through
difficult issues together but, ultimately, got to compromise into
important resolutions on these issues and matters of importance.

I appreciate her foresight on this particular provision, which I am
pleased to strongly endorse. The reason for that is we are facing a
very challenging time globally with the issue of cybersecurity. We not
only have to worry about the impacts that can happen with cyber issues
for the kinds of materials that we have got in the private sector, that
they can be impacted, but we are also dealing in a very unsafe world in
which threats are not only the theft of information or interference
with systems, but the ability now for those who want to do us harm to
use the cyber network to carry out that harm. Therefore, it is more
critical than ever that we are able to attract to the Department of
Homeland Security, in fact into government, the kinds of people who are
prepared to be on the front lines of this battle.

This is exactly what this provision will enable us to do--first, to
attract people, and I am always inspired by them, because they have the
same sense and focus of dedication to their country that so many brave
men and women who sign up and serve us in uniform. While they are
serving in a different capacity, their service to our Nation is every
bit as real in the sense of the personal sacrifice that they make to
help us attract the best and the brightest to protect our assets. You
have to appreciate that many of them, once they get that expertise, are
very, very desirable to corporations and others in the business world
who will pay them significantly more to come to work for them.

So this idea of beginning to create the bullpen, so to speak, of the
next generation of cyber-prepared warriors for our country is at the heart
of what the gentlewoman is trying to do, to enable universities and
others to develop these kinds of programs that support students who, in
return for some support for their education, will come to work for us.
That will get us the next level of individuals, and it will begin the
process of training those individuals, which we will need.

So this is, again, another important piece of our overall successful
approach to trying to create cybersecurity.

I urge all of the Members to join me in supporting this bill, and I
yield back the balance of my time.

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