Dhs Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act.

Before I discuss the bill, however, I would like to say a few words about the recent bombings in my hometown of Austin. In the past month, there have been a total of four bombings that have killed two people and injured four others. These are heinous, hateful acts on innocent Americans, and they will not be tolerated.

I know the people of Austin very well, and they will not be intimidated. I urge everyone back home to take caution and heed the warnings of local law enforcement. We will find whoever is responsible for these bombings and bring them to justice.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to now address the bill I have introduced and the threats confronting our cybersecurity.

As technology advances, more and more people are relying on their computers, iPads, and smartphones for both personal and professional use. In short, Mr. Speaker, everyone is a target.

But our enemies do not just attack individuals and their devices. They also put America's critical infrastructure sectors in their crosshairs, endangering all aspects of civilian life. These sectors include our financial services, healthcare systems, dams, and our energy production, among others. All of them play a vital role in making America work, and each one is vulnerable to an attack.

Last week, the FBI and DHS reported that Russian hackers had engineered a series of cyber attacks against American and European nuclear power plants and electric systems. Crippling or shutting down our power plants would have catastrophic effects.

We also know that Russia tried to undermine the credibility of our democratic system in the 2016 elections and are likely to try again in 2018. Strengthening our cyber election security needs to be a bipartisan priority.

Russia is not the only perpetrator of these kinds of attacks. Between 2011 and 2013, Iranian hackers attacked dozens of U.S. banks and even tried to shut down a dam in New York.

In 2015, we learned that Chinese hackers gained access to the private information of 80 million members and employees of Anthem healthcare. The Chinese also stole 22 million security clearances, including my own, from OPM. This attack allowed them to obtain highly sensitive personal data, including fingerprints and Social Security numbers. These continual onslaughts are part of a greater cyber war being carried out against the United States, even as I stand here and speak.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Our adversaries have weaponized technology and are using it to engage in espionage and to steal our intellectual property. This costs our economy hundreds of billions of dollars each year. In fact, former NSA Director, General Keith Alexander, described this theft as the ``greatest transfer of wealth in history.''

We must do more to stop these attacks. That is why I have prioritized the cybersecurity mission of DHS as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Through CISA, the previous bill which passed the House in December, we are elevating and making operational the Department's cybersecurity and infrastructure protection missions.

As part of the landmark DHS reauthorization, which passed the House in July, the Department will be required to provide volunteer assistance to State and local election officials upon request. These were important bipartisan steps, but we need to do more.

The legislation before us today codifies and enhances the cyber incident response times at DHS. These teams shall provide, upon request, assistance to asset owners and operators following cyber incidents, including with election infrastructure.

These teams may also include cybersecurity specialists from the private sector to provide outside expertise, which is a new, innovative breakthrough. By fostering this new collaboration between government and private sector, we can harness our talent and maximize our efforts to stay one step ahead of our enemies.

This innovative approach serves as a force multiplier to enhance our cybersecurity workforce. Being able to utilize a great number of experts will strengthen our efforts to protect our cyber networks. My bill provides DHS with that necessary capability.

The American people deserve to know that we are making every effort to strengthen our cybersecurity. This bill helps us achieve that goal, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, this is a hugely important issue. I think cyber often gets overlooked when we look at kinetic threats of nuclear missiles coming out of North Korea, which is obviously a huge threat to the United States and its allies. But in cyberspace, we are at war, as well, with countries like Russia and China and Iran and North Korea, the Russian meddling in the elections. We can't sit idly by and let that happen again in 2018.

I think this is, as Mr. Thompson stated, a very bipartisan issue that we need to work together on against our foreign adversaries that every day are trying to undermine us, stealing intellectual property, espionage, or bringing down things in a cyber warfare attack. It is not the future of warfare; it is warfare here and now.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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