Joint Hearing of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency of the House Homeland Security Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Michael McCaul, Hearing on Examining DHS' Efforts to Strengthen its Cybersecurity Workforce

Hearing

Every day nation-state actors, such as Russia, China and Iran, and other cybercriminals are
increasingly hacking into U.S. companies and government networks to conduct espionage or steal
intellectual property.

With tens of millions of Americans relying on computer networks and IT for both personal and
professional reasons, the risks apply to almost everyone.

Recognizing these threats, I made strengthening the cybersecurity mission at DHS one of my top
priorities as Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security. It's an issue that has united both
parties and I am proud to say we have accomplished a great deal.

Just this morning, the full Committee passed a bill that would strengthen the ability of our cyber
response teams to react to attacks on America's critical infrastructure.

This past December, the House approved my landmark bill to create a stand-alone, operational
organization to elevate the cybersecurity mission of DHS.

In recent years, we passed bills that clarified the cybersecurity roles and authorities between DHS
and OMB, and strengthened cyber threat information sharing.

And in 2014, we passed important legislation to expedite hiring authority at DHS to bolster its
cybersecurity workforce. At the time, it was made clear that this authority would help combat cyber
threats.

Unfortunately, the Department has never used this hiring authority. The hearing today will focus on
some of the reasons for this delay. With the number of threats that continue to gather by the day, I
find this pretty alarming.

One of our responsibilities as Members of this Committee is to make sure DHS is fully implementing
the workforce authorities provided by Congress.

To combat cybersecurity threats, we need DHS to hire the best possible workforce. There is too
much at stake.

I am hopeful that we can learn why this delay has happened and I look forward to working with DHS
and the other Members of our Committee to make sure we are using the authorities that have been
granted.

When it comes to Homeland Security, the American people need to have the best possible
workforce in place.

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