Support for Rapid Innovation Act of 2016

Floor Speech

I rise in support of H.R. 5388, the Support for Rapid Innovation Act of 2016.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5388, the Support for Rapid Innovation Act of 2016, directs the Department of Homeland Security to support advancements in cybersecurity research. Hackers, cyberterrorists, and other cybercriminals are constantly innovating. As such, it is a security imperative that the Federal Government--or, more specifically, DHS-- innovate, too. To that end, H.R. 5388 directs DHS to support promising projects to, among other things, improve the detection of cyber attacks or intrusions and mitigation and recovery from such attacks.

This bill is based on two provisions contained in H.R. 3578, the DHS Science and Technology Reform and Improvement Act, which passed the House last December. Specifically, H.R. 5388 directs DHS' Under Secretary for Science and Technology to bolster research and development of cybersecurity technology to improve the sharing of information, analysis, and methodologies to address cybersecurity risk and incidents. Additionally, H.R. 5388 extends for 4 years the Department's authority to utilize other transaction authority instead of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to fund basic, applied, and advanced R&D projects.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation faces growing, diverse, and increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats. These threats necessitate a Federal response that includes supporting innovative cybersecurity research and development, testing, and evaluation. This response is dependent on strong public and private collaboration. Such collaboration is essential to ensuring that promising technologies are introduced into the marketplace in a timely manner.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5388.

I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source