Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2952, the ``Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act.''

H.R. 2952 requires the Department to have a well-developed Research and Development strategy to work in targeted ways to advance cybersecurity, particularly within the critical infrastructure sector.

Keeping pace with cybercriminals, hackers, and others who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in critical IT networks is a major challenge for the Federal government and its partners in the private sector.

Americans take for granted that when they flip a switch, their lights will come on, when they pick up a phone, there will be a ringtone and when they pick up their Smartphone, they will have a signal.

The reliability and functioning of these systems is dependent on computer systems, often Internet-based systems.

Recently, we have seen the damage that can be done when systems are breached. The database breach at Target, a major retailer, involved 70 million stolen records, which affected over a hundred million people.

The true cost of these kinds of breaches is almost unknowable because of the complexity of the crimes, and the sometimes-untraceable use of the stolen information.

What we do know is that hackers are breaching the networks of large corporate companies, gaining access to proprietary industry information, as well as consumer data.

The Department of Homeland Security is the lead Federal agency responsible for researching and developing more advanced and effective cybersecurity technologies to defend Americans from such attacks.

The legislation before us today creates a technology clearinghouse to help promote partnerships with laboratories and universities throughout the Nation for research on how to enhance not only the cyber but the physical of critical infrastructure.

I am pleased that it directs DHS to seek out new ways to better collaboration with its Centers of Excellence on this research.

I am confident that the teams at Jackson State University and Tougaloo College in Mississippi, which are part of the Centers of Excellence network, can make valuable contributions to this effort.

On a bipartisan basis, this Committee has developed a record for championing homeland security research and development while, at the same time, demanding accountability of DHS to ensure solid decision-making drives the expenditure of limited R&D dollars.

I urge my fellow colleagues to support H.R. 2952, the ``Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act of 2013''.

Source