Bill seeks to bolster national cybersecurity

Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Robin Kelly (D-IL) introduced last week a measure designed to enhance national cybersecurity efforts by modifying the Federal Chief Information Officer’s (CIO) role.

The representatives said the legislation elevates and reauthorizes the duties and responsibilities of the CIO, who oversees the digital infrastructure security across the federal government.

The legislative effort would provide a clearer IT reporting structure, officials said, by elevating the Federal CIO’s role as a Presidential appointee who directly reports to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and codifying the Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) as a Presidential appointee reporting to the Federal CIO. It would also direct the Federal CIO to submit a proposal to Congress for consolidating and streamlining IT across federal agencies and reauthorize and rename the Office of E-Government as the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer.

“Every single minute of every single day, hackers are trying to steal Americans’ information,” Hurd said. “From credit card numbers to social security numbers, our personal information is targeted by bad actors around the globe. Americans should be able to trust their government to keep their information safe. This bill helps keep the vast information stored by the federal government secure from hackers by making clear that the Federal CIO is in charge of the security of our data across the government.”

Kelly said reauthorizing Federal CIO and CISO roles would help streamline government IT processes and advance modernization efforts.

“This commonsense, bipartisan legislation to increase government effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness unanimously passed the House during the 115th Congress; we need to get this done in the 116th Congress,” she said.