Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., one of the leading voices on cybersecurity in Congress, is pushing for an amendment to the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to include two items he has long advocated – the creation of a class of a “systemically important” critical infrastructure providers, and the formation of a government Bureau of Cyber Statistics.
The House Rules Committee began the process today of considering which of the numerous amendments proposed for the FY2023 NDAA should be approved for further debate by lawmakers.
Rep. Langevin – who also chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s cyber subcommittee and who previously served on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission – said in a statement that his proposed on cyber data would fulfill the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s recommendation for a Bureau of Cyber Statistics.
“Under this amendment, CISA [the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] would be responsible for collecting and disseminating essential data and information on cybersecurity to better inform future policymaking and research,” said Rep. Jim Langevin, a co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus.
“Moreover, the leadership of our premier cyber agency should be insulated from day-to-day beltway politics, so I’m working closely with Congressman Garbarino to establish five-year terms for the Director of CISA,” he said.
In February, Rep. Langevin said he identified about 100 private sector firms he’d consider “systemically important” critical infrastructure providers when working on legislation to increase security collaboration between them and the Federal government.
“The issue of what we call systemically important critical infrastructure is focused on those companies that are that are so large and so important to the national or economic security of the United States that if they went down, it wouldn’t be just the company having a bad day, but the entire country having a bad day,” Rep. Langevin said at the time.
“We want to create a closer collaborative relationship with those companies that give broader actionable intelligence sharing, as well as have the companies be able to give context to what, maybe, the intel community is seeing,” he said.
