House subcommittee moves bill to boost cybersecurity

The House Science Research Subcommittee unanimously approved legislation Wednesday intended to address the growing threats from hackers, electronic spies and other cyber-criminals.

The bill would require three federal agencies -- the Defense and Homeland Security departments and the National Science Foundation -- to develop a long-range research and development program that would authorize grants and scholarships for training in cybersecurity.

The measure was referred to the full committee after unanimous adoption of amendments by House Science Research Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill., and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.

Lipinski said the Science Technology and Innovation Subcommittee would have to mark up the bill before it went to the full committee.

Lipinski and Research Subcommittee ranking member Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., said the bill resulted from a series of hearings in which industry and government experts said there was an urgent need for better coordination and focus on research in cybersecurity, and greater incentives for advanced studies in the field.

The urgency of those efforts is indicated by an escalation of attacks on government and industry Internet sites and identity theft against individuals, they said. The bill requires the three agencies to submit to Congress within 12 months of enactment a strategic plan "based on an assessment of the cybersecurity risk" to guide federal research and development programs for information technology and network security. The plan must be updated every year.

It would authorize grants in computer and network security research, with funding increasing from $68.7 million in Fiscal 2010 to $90 million in Fiscal 2014.