House Quietly Passes Three Cybersecurity Bills

Activist Post

On July 28, 2014, the House of Representatives passed three bills aimed at enhancing the cybersecurity efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in certain critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy sector: 

• H.R. 3696 – the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (NCCIPA), the primary bill of the three, which passed by voice vote;
• H.R. 2952 – the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Act (CIRDA), a bill promoting cybersecurity research and development, which passed by voice vote and
• H.R. 3107 – the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act, a bill seeking to bolster the cybersecurity workforce, which passed by a 395-8 vote.

NCCIPA directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to coordinate with federal, state and local government entities and, most notably, private entities and critical infrastructure owners and operators to perform numerous cybersecurity improvement tasks. Those tasks include facilitating information sharing, developing resiliency strategies and providing cyber incident response.

The bill, introduced by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Subcommittee Chairman Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette Clarke (D-NY), also recognizes the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, a subdivision of DHS established in 2009, as the interface for sharing real-time cyber threat information.

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