Hardening Our Defenses Against Cyberwarfare

[Commentary] Advances in technology that connect utilities, industries and information in real time have changed the nature of the threats facing the nation. Digital networks could be used as a conduit to gas lines, power grids and transportation systems to silently deliver a devastating cyberattack to the US.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Obama administration have made progress in promoting information-sharing. But the executive branch lacks constitutional authority possessed by Congress to provide the necessary liability protections that industry needs to freely and systematically share cyberthreat information with the federal government. To thwart attacks, we have to see and connect the dots. Congress has a responsibility to establish the statutory processes necessary to solidify and encourage this participation. Additionally, Congress must build on the administration's efforts in a way that promotes U.S. commerce while not hindering its expansion and innovation. The public sector and privately owned companies that make up the country's critical infrastructure are capable of handling this challenge—and we must aid them in creating lines of communication with the civilian entities involved in making the American economy and infrastructure work.

The House Committee on Homeland Security is working with all stakeholders and colleagues in Congress to foster consensus on necessary, bipartisan cybersecurity legislation. Threats to the U.S. homeland are evolving, both in the real and virtual worlds, and so too must the defenses evolve. Congress needs to act: The threat is real, and this time we have to see it coming.

[Rep McCaul is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee]