Republicans Fail a Security Test

[Commentary] Senate Republicans regularly promote themselves as the true custodians of national security. This claim seemed particularly hollow last week when they helped block a new measure aimed at protecting America’s vulnerable computer networks from attack by, among others, potentially hostile foreign governments.

The legislation would have required companies to share data about cyberattacks with the government, and would have created a framework for minimum security standards to toughen computer protections. But the Chamber of Commerce and other business interests said the rules would be too costly and intrusive, and the Republicans went along. The result was to postpone action until after the August recess, and even then the bill may go nowhere given the pressures of election-year politics. The cost of inaction is already high.