Bill introduced to establish National Cyber Director

Lawmakers have introduced a measure creating a National Cyber Director position within the White House, who would serve as the president’s principal advisor on cybersecurity issues.

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), Cyberspace Solarium commissioner, joined five colleagues in presenting the National Cyber Director Act.

“After more than a decade studying this issue, I can say with great certainty: cybersecurity policy is complicated,” Langevin, who has co-chaired the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus since its founding in 2008, said. “In the Information Age, everyone relies on computers, whether it’s individuals doing their banking, hospitals keeping track of patient records, companies conducting commerce, or service members protecting our national security. By the same token, everyone is vulnerable, and the defense of our country is diffused across more actors than at any point in our nation’s history.”

Langevin maintains only within the White House can a whole-of-nation cyber strategy be cohesively developed and implemented to address the threats.

The position would be backed with additional statutory authority to review cybersecurity budgets and coordinate national incident response.

“The Coronavirus has elevated the importance of cyberinfrastructure and demonstrated how incredibly disruptive a major cyberattack could be,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Cyberspace Solarium co-chair, said. “But while we are woefully unprepared for a cyber calamity, there is still time to right the ship. As the Cyberspace Solarium Commission recommends, a critical first step in doing so is through the creation of a National Cyber Director who would not only coordinate a whole-of-nation response to an attack but work to prevent it in the first place.”