National Cybersecurity Protection Act, S. 2519
Floor Speech
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Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the National
Cybersecurity Protection Act and the Senate Amendment to the
Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act. I applaud my friend and fellow
co-Chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, Mike McCaul, as
well as Chairman Carper in the Senate and Ranking Member Thompson here
in the House, for their efforts to bring this legislation to this
point.
I believe that cybersecurity is one of the defining national security
challenges of our time. No other issue affects our national defense,
our economic well-being, and our individual lives as cybersecurity
does. With each day's news rife with stories of cyberattacks and data
breaches that target our agencies, companies, citizens and allies, we
as policymakers have a responsibility to act.
I have made no secret of the frustration I have felt for the past
several years as Congress has failed to act to shore up our
cybersecurity. This week, with these bills and others, we are making a
down payment on what must be a sustained level of attention and effort.
The challenge we face demands no less.
But so very much more needs to be done--and soon. I am extremely
disappointed that the Senate has failed to pass information sharing
legislation that was approved by the House, legislation that the
private sector and government agencies agree is long overdue. And while
the bills before us and others that Congress has passed in recent days
are important, even these measures are limited in scope. In particular,
they do not address any organizational changes within the executive
branch that I firmly believe are necessary, such as the creation of a
National Office for Cyberspace within the Executive Office of the
President, with budgetary oversight powers, able to coordinate and
oversee the security of agency information systems and infrastructure
across government.
Still and all, these pieces of legislation move the ball forward in
key areas, and above all ends the inaction on cybersecurity issues that
has gripped this Congress for far too long. I applaud my House and
Senate colleagues for their efforts, and urge support of these
measures.
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