Date: 2012-04-27
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Let me express my appreciation to the leaders of this bill. This is a good bipartisan bill. and it is nearly identical to the legislation that passed the House by an overwhelming majority in the last Congress. I would like to certainly cite Mr. LIPINSKI and Mr. MCCAUL for their leadership and work on this bill. The Internetand our access to the Internet through computers. tablets. smartphones. et ceterahas greatly increased our productivity and connectivity. Unfortunately. this connectivity and the dependence of our infrastructure. our commerce. and a great deal of our daytoday lives on information technologies have increased our vulnerability to cyberattack. For example. you may recall last year. the networks of 48 companies were penetrated for at least 6 months by a hacker who was looking for intellectual property to steal. and it was reported that the personal information of nearly 80 million video game users was compromised. So we need to do what we can to help ensure that these sorts of intrusions are minimized. To do this. we need to build strong partnerships between our Federal agencies. businesses. nongovernmental organizations. and educational institutions. I am pleased that H.R. 2096 strengthens the publicprivate partnerships. guarantees a proactive and comprehensive Federal cybersecurity R&D portfolio. trains the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. and ensures the development of robust cybersecurity technical standards. These activities are essential to our efforts to advance the security of our current information and communication systems and to build future systems that are more secure from the outset. I would simply close by saying thank you to Mr. MCCAUL and to Mr. LIPINSKI. I hope that we get this bill passed. Both of the agencies covered in H.R. 2096. the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. play an important and unique role in the Federal effort to secure cyberspace. While I support the passage of H.R. 2096. I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to express some disappointment over the language in H.R. 2096 that authorizes a cybersecuity awareness and education program at NIST. During Committee consideration of H.R. 2096. I offered an amendment to ensure that the education and awareness activities authorized by the bill accurately represent NISTs current role as the coordinator of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education. or NICE. I was pleased that my Republican colleagues offered to work with me to address this concern. However. the language in the bill we are considering today still falls short and fails to accurately reflect these activities. NICE. under NISTs leadership. is playing an important and critical role in improving cybersecurity education in this country. Unfortunately. my Republican colleagues were resistant to language that specifically addressed NICEs role in formal cybersecurity education. I believe that this is a regrettable omission and that we missed an opportunity to ensure that the initiative focuses sufficient attention on developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. I hope that this shortcoming can be addressed as the bill moves to the Senate. President Obama has stated that cyber threats are "one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation" and that cutting edge research and development and a commitment to science and math education are central to securing Americas information and communication networks. I couldnt agree more. H.R. 2096 will help to advance these important goals and improve the Nations resiliency to cyber attack. Id like to take a moment to thank both the Majority and Minority staff for their work on this bill. and in particular thank Marcy Gallo on my staff for her hard work. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.