On the recordFebruary 3, 2010
I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Gordon for all his work on this bill and on the cybersecurity issue in general. This is, as the chairman said, a good bipartisan bill. I also want to thank Ranking Member Hall for his work and Dr. Ehlers, as we worked on the Research and Science Education Subcommittee on this bill. Almost a year ago, President Obama called for a comprehensive 60-day review of U.S. cyberspace policy. This call and the expert recommendations contained in the resulting report led to a series of hearings in my Research and Science Education Subcommittee as well as the full Science and Technology Committee. We heard in these hearings about the various aspects of cybersecurity R&D, including the state of research programs, partnerships with the private sector, the IT workforce, and how both NIST and the NSF are responding to the review. H.R. 4061 is built upon what we learned in these hearings and addresses some of the critical issues raised in the 60-day review. Specifically, it aims to build strong public-private partnerships, improve the transfer of cybersecurity technologies to the marketplace, train an IT workforce for both the public and private sectors, and coordinate and prioritize Federal cybersecurity R&D.
