Celia Israel: “I will attempt to continue my winning streak on the floor this morning. I rise to offer an amendment with my…”

“I will attempt to continue my winning streak on the floor this morning. I rise to offer an amendment with my distinguished friend and partner from New York (Mr. Hanna). This bipartisan amendment addresses an issue that has concerned many of us for some time, and that is the fact that, when it comes to cyber defense and cyber war, many Federal agencies are doing something; it is just that they may not be aware of what each of them is doing. We need closer coordination and collaboration among all the Federal agencies and entities dealing with cyber war. Mr. Chairman, we recently found out that the United States Office of Personnel Management suffered a cyber attack impacting millions of Federal workers. This attack, in my view, highlights a disconnect between agencies tasked to provide cyber defense, a foreign government hacking into a Federal government system, taking the records of millions of government employees, spanning the jurisdiction of several Federal agencies. It is clear that there is an obvious need for greater collaboration between these agencies to create a credible defense and, if needed, a deterrent to those wishing to attack through the cyber domain. That is why I was very pleased in February of this year when the President directed the DNI to establish the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, CTIIC. This bill very properly authorizes that position.…”