We are writing to express the Business Roundtable’s support of H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, and to urge passage of this critical legislation.
Increasingly, well-funded cyber adversaries are targeting our government as well as the U.S. business community, threatening our national and economic security. As articulated in the Business Roundtable policy statement, Mission Critical: A Public-Private Strategy for Effective Cybersecurity, threats to our cybersecurity demand advanced, collaborative public-private solutions that are supported by strong legal protections. Such solutions should avoid top-down, prescriptive approaches that do not reflect or respond effectively to a rapidly evolving threat environment and the reality of privately owned and operated information assets.
Toward those ends, H.R. 3523 addresses some of the information sharing related challenges identified in the Mission Critical policy statement. The legislation represents an important first step in creating a framework for the effective sharing of cybersecurity information. For example, the legislation authorizes the Director of National Intelligence to implement effective, collaborative real-time information sharing capabilities between the public and private sectors. Business Roundtable is encouraged that this approach could lead to the integration of the full resources of the U.S. government, including defense, intelligence, homeland security, diplomatic, economic and trade assets. In addition, the legislation provides protections from disclosure of sensitive corporate information shared with the government. Finally, the legislation provides much-needed processes to expedite security clearances for both corporate facilities and staff that require access to cyber threat information.
H.R. 3523 represents an essential component to a more robust and responsive cybersecurity infrastructure, and the Business Roundtable stands ready to work with you and your co-sponsors to advance this and any additional legislation that addresses key components of our policy principles.
Sincerely,
John Engler
JE/chc
C: Ajay Banga
President and CEO, MasterCard Incorporated
Chairman, Business Roundtable Information and Technology Committee