Lawmaker to seek statutory authority for cyber adviser

Expressing frustration with the Obama administration, a key House lawmaker on Thursday said he will introduce a bill soon to codify the powers of a White House adviser for national cybersecurity efforts.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who leads the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee and serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said he is worried that momentum is fading to tackle the nation's major cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

President Obama has repeatedly pledged to appoint a senior adviser to coordinate cybersecurity activities, but so far no one has been named.

Langevin said he worries that even when an adviser is appointed, he or she will not have the necessary powers to force federal agencies into action. He said in an interview that he plans to introduce a bill possibly at the beginning of 2010 to give the adviser budget and personnel authority.

Langevin's bill would mark the first effort in the House to legislate on cybersecurity since Obama came into office. Across Capitol Hill, key senators are at odds over how best to improve federal cybersecurity efforts.

Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, have introduced a bill that would concentrate responsibility for cybersecurity with a White House adviser.

But Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, are expected to introduce a bill to give the Homeland Security Department primary authority to enforce cybersecurity standards across federal civilian agencies.

Langevin said he does not believe one agency, such as Homeland Security, can do the job, so a White House coordinator is needed.

On Thursday, he chaired a House Cybersecurity Caucus forum that sought expert opinions on how to combat cyberattacks.

Paul Kurtz, who had served on the National Security Council, said the U.S. government does not have a coherent military strategy for responding to attacks. Recalling that the United States developed a Cold War-era deterrence strategy for nuclear conflict based on the concept of "mutually assured destruction," Kurtz said, "The call here is to have a more transparent dialogue of what our military strategy is in cyberspace."

But Martin Libicki, a senior scientist at the RAND Corp., cautioned that a deterrence strategy might backfire. If an attack is carried out and U.S. reaction is not effective, then the U.S. government will look weak or incompetent, he said.