On July 26, right before adjourning for a five-week recess, the Senate failed to failed to pass legislation to establish security standards to prevent large-scale cyber attacks on the Nation’s critical infrastructure, including the electrical grid and transportation system. Despite a final push by the White House and the military, the 52-to-46 vote fell short of the 60 needed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster and advance the bill to final passage.
The legislation ― S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, sponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman (CT-I) ― was a national security priority of the Obama Administration. (See the December 2011 issue of Congressional Digest, “National Cybersecurity.”) The White House originally unveiled a proposal in May 2011 in response to warnings by national security officers about the the potential for devastating assaults on American computer networks. Lawmakers in Congress, though in accord on the need for the bill, disagreed over privacy issues and how to balance the relative roles of the government and private sector.
The loudest opposition came from the Chamber of Commerce, which objected to the level of government authority, stating, “Businesses need certainty that threat and vulnerability of information shared with the government would be provided a safe harbor and not lead to frivolous lawsuits, would be exempt from public disclosure, and could not be used by officials to regulate other activities.” Administration officials maintained that the bill would improve communications between government and industry and prevent an incident from becoming a crisis.
Industry itself has been divided over the issue, with the technology sector favoring it for the most part and many bricks-and-mortar businesses (especially those who would stand to lose money) opposing it.
To address opponents’ concerns, congressional negotiators replaced Senate provisions giving regulatory authority to the Department of Homeland Security with a more voluntary approach that gave businesses incentives to meet certain security standards. The Chamber of Commerce continued to oppose the bill, however, contending that the Federal Government would still be overly involved in creating the standards — and favoring instead the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), passed by the House in April, and the Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information and Technology (SECURE) Act, a Senate alternative introduced by Senator John McCain (AZ-R).
Following the Senate vote, the White House issued a statement charging that “the politics of obstructionism, driven by special interest groups seeking to avoid accountability, prevented Congress from passing legislation to better protect our Nation from potentially catastrophic cyber-attacks.”
Members of Congress on both sides have vowed not to abandon efforts to pass cybersecurity legislation this year, but also acknowledge that there is little room left for compromise.
