McCaul pushes cybersecurity bill in Congress

Austin American Statesman

Congress debated a measure Wednesday that was designed to address weaknesses in the nation's computer security.

If the bill becomes law, it would require federal agencies to develop a plan to curb cyberstrikes against governmental agencies and other targets such as ports, electric grids and refineries. The vote was delayed until today.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, the lead minority party sponsor of the bill, said the proposed legislation could help "avoid a cyber 9/11 attack."

The need for the bill has been demonstrated by the growing number of attacks on the Pentagon's network, a couple of members of Congress said during the floor debate, which was televised on C-SPAN. The Pentagon reported last year that it experienced 360 million attempted intrusions in 2008, up from 6 million in 2006.

"We are vulnerable," McCaul said.

He added that foreign countries have already tried to steal sensitive information from the federal government. He declined to name them.

The bill, H.R. 4061 , dubbed the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009 , is intended to:

• Improve research and development grant programs that focus on cybersecurity, at a cost of $396 million.

• Spend $94 million on scholarship programs at the National Science Foundation that can be repaid with federal service.

• Boost the number of people in the federal cyber work force.

• Authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to set security standards for federal computer systems and develop checklists for agencies to follow.

• Create a task force made up of people from federal, private and academic sectors to coordinate research and development.

"This is a great first step in protecting our federal networks," McCaul said during the debate.

The bill, which was authored by Illinois Democrat Daniel Lipinski , comes with an expected cost of $959 million.

Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, issued a statement critical of the proposal. The free-market public policy group said security companies benefit from competition, not government grants.

"The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act amounts to pork, and the private sector can and should fund the training of America's security experts," Crews said.

The Business Software Alliance, which includes Adobe, Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell, IBM, Intel and SAP, said it supports the legislation.

"This need was clearly demonstrated by the recent cyber attacks on a number of U.S. companies," said group president Robert Holleyman. The bill "would help spark innovation through a coordinated national cybersecurity research and development plan."

Gary Chapman, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs, said Congress is taking on a complicated and important issue. "It's something the country needs, and it's something that administrations have been working on for quite a long time," he said. "This is another run at the problem and one that had bipartisan support."

Chapman said it is vital to move forward with the bill but added that it won't be a quick fix because the solution is based on research and coordination.