Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Senate amendment to H.R.
2952 that attaches the Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act.

For the Department of Homeland Security to be effective in its
cybersecurity mission, it must have a workforce in place to meet this
challenge. Yesterday, the House considered legislation to grant DHS
special hiring authority to secure talent in the competitive
cybersecurity employment marketplace.

The measure before you today includes language, authored by the
gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), that requires DHS to develop
and issue a comprehensive workforce strategy for the Department's
cybersecurity missions, and includes a 5-year implementation plan and a
10-year projection of the cybersecurity workforce needs of the
Department.

Cybersecurity is a complex mission for the Department and requires a
wide range of talent at all levels. Given the urgent nature of DHS'
recruitment efforts, it is essential that the Department have this
strategy in place.

Secondly, the bill requires the Department to assess the readiness
and capacity of its workforce to meet its cybersecurity missions.
Lastly, the urgent need to fill critical national security positions
often leads to an overreliance on contractors.

To encourage students to come to work for the government in this
vital arena, this legislation also directs DHS to develop a plan to
create a cybersecurity fellowship program. Under such a program, DHS
would pay a promising student's tuition in exchange for a commitment to
serve for a fixed period of time at the Department in a cybersecurity
position.

For all these reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 2952,
and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), the ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security
Technologies, who actually--this legislation is what she has been
about.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.

In closing, the legislation under consideration today is a product of
bipartisan, bicameral negotiations. It has two parts: the core bill,
which addresses the overall direction of Federal physical security and
cybersecurity technology research and development efforts for
protecting critical infrastructure; and the Clarke cybersecurity
workforce amendment.

The language in both parts went through regular order and was
approved by the House.

Therefore, I urge passage of H.R. 2952.

Before I yield back, in case Ms. Clarke leaves, our committee has the
unfortunate task next year of losing the chair and ranking member of
this fine subcommittee, and I want to personally say that I really
appreciate the manner in which they worked together on not just
hearings but bringing forth good legislation to the full committee and,
ultimately, this legislation we are dealing with today. So, I
compliment both of them and we will miss them.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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