Hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. McCaul, Markup of "DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019"

Hearing

I would like to thank Congressmen Langevin, Ratcliffe, Ruppersberger, and Katko for joining me in introducing my bill under consideration at this markup, the Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019.

In November 2018, while I was Chairman, my bill, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Act was signed into law by President Trump to reorganize the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) and create CISA.

This important legislation elevated the cyber mission at DHS and strengthened America's cybersecurity.

Since then, it has been my goal to build off CISA's continued success and solidify our nation's defenses against cyber threats.

As adversaries look to exploit our networks, we must be prepared to tackle the threats of the future.

The legislation that we are now considering is an innovative and strong addition to ensuring we have an important mechanism to respond to cyber incidents.  

Specifically, my bill ensures that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has cyber incident response teams to aid federal agencies and the private sector in identifying, responding to, and mitigating cybersecurity threats.

These teams assist compromised cyber-assets with response efforts and provide recommendations for improving networks.

CISA's cyber incident response teams lead the way in protecting our nation's cyber infrastructure and operate as our first responders to cyber-attacks.

Furthermore, this legislation enables DHS to foster collaboration between the public and private sector by allowing specialists to operate on cyber incident response teams that maximize our efforts to combat cyber threats.

The United States must continue to evolve and strengthen our cybersecurity capabilities to ensure we are one step ahead of our threats that face the homeland. This bipartisan legislation passed the House last Congress and it is my hope we can get it across the finish line this year.

I thank my colleagues for their support of this important legislation and I yield the balance of my time.

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