On the recordAugust 5, 2015
I rise today to speak in favor of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. I wish to first recognize the hard work of Chairman Burr and Vice Chairman Feinstein and their leadership on this very important legislation. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I am well aware of the need to strengthen our computer networks against our adversaries, whether they be nation-states, such as China, Russia, and Iran, or terrorist groups or international criminal gangs or hacktivists. Along with former Senator Joe Lieberman, I authored the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. This bill implemented many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission report in the wake of Al Qaeda's terrorist attack on our country that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Many of the reforms enacted in our law were well-known and recommended prior--far before--the attacks on our country on 9/11, but they simply were never implemented, despite the clear and present threat posed by Al Qaeda. Today, my concern is that we are repeating much the same mistake when it comes to the cyber domain. Our Nation has unparalleled strength, but cyber space allows much weaker adversaries to target our people, our economy, and our military.…





