Congresswoman Clarke's Statement on Cybersecurity Threat

Press Release

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on allegations by the United States Department of Justice that five members of China's People's Liberation Army stole trade secrets from American companies such as Westinghouse, United States Steel and Alcoa. Officials in the United States have asked the Chinese government to send the people who have been charged to the United States, and to discontinue efforts to undermine our cybersecurity.

"The charges filed by the United States Department of Justice against a Chinese sponsored hacking unit demonstrate that we need a comprehensive plan to protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure," said Congresswoman Clarke, who as the lead democrat of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies in the House of Representative has introduced legislation that would require federal agencies to collaborate with private companies to improve cybersecurity. "These threats to our commerce and homeland security are extremely serious: as the disclosure of business plans and practices exacerbate an already menacing trade imbalance with China. These daily cyberattacks on our systems and extraction of personal information could provide hackers with access to our banking system, the disclosure of trade secrets could permit foreign companies or governments to obtain an unfair competitive advantage and the disclosure of classified information could undermine our national security."

The bipartisan H.R. 3696, the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013, was introduced in December by Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-MS), as well as Subcommittee Chairman Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY).

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