Late last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) unveiled a draft bill that seems to be causing some anxiety among progressives.
Certain provisions in the bill seem to be reasonable – like creating a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications and an Office for Cyber Policy — and should strengthen American defenses in an increasingly vulnerable climate (particularly as the China cyber threat is on the upswing). But others have split Democrats.
There seem to be three camps — civil libertarians, Democrats on the Hill working on the cyber issue and the White House.
Civil libertarians are concerned about this provision of the bill, which would provide the president with the power to declare a national cyber emergency and essentially compel owners of critical cyber infrastructure to subjugate themselves to the president’s direction. In other words, civil libertarians are making the case that with an emergency declaration, the president could close the Internet.
Lieberman has tried to explain the provision, saying “the government should never take over the Internet.” But his explaination fails to bridge the gap between a complete “taking over” and an ill-defined and vague emergency provision that his bill provides for.
But cyber-congressmen (a term I’m laying claim to) have come out in support of Lieberman’s bill:
In an unusual show of bipartisanship, two prominent senior members of the House panel — California Democrat Jane Harman and New York Republican Peter King — announced plans to co-sponsor and introduce a companion bill in the House to S. 3480, introduced last week by Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.), Susan Collins (R.-Maine) and Tom Carper (D.-Del.).
“I agree with Mr. King that the Lieberman-Collins bill is excellent,” declared Harman, adding, “I do plan to co-sponsor the bill with him…I think it is an excellent effort. I’m sure it will change as it goes through the legislative process, but I do think it will be good to work with our counterparts in the Senate on this, as we worked with our counterparts in the Senate on the Safe Ports act.”
While supporting tough cyber legislation is certainly laudable, questions of motivation hang in the air. Is support for the bill born of a desire to seek genuine bipartisan compromise, an attempt to pass major legislation that members are responsible for in an election year, or because of the reported overtures to cyber-business? Or all three? Or something different?
Then there’s the White House. Deputy Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate for the Department of Homeland Security (there’s a mouthful) Philip Reitinger testified that:
[T]he administration’s review of the bill, which was released last week, is incomplete and could not give a timeline on when this would be done. He mentioned that revisions of the bill should be aware that the president already has certain emergency powers and care should be taken to avoid overlapping the law.
As such, the bill was declined the Obama administration’s endorsement in the hearing. Instead, the deputy suggested that the current Section 706 of Communications Act should be used as a foundation for revisions in the law, as opposed to the creation of a new one.
That part in bold is the upshot — no matter what the support or concerns are, the bill won’t become law unless the administration fully supports it. At this point, that’s unlikely without significant revision.
Photo Credits: Tsakshaug’s Photostream
