Washington, DC – Last December the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence established a Cyber Task Force to evaluate cyber threats to the United States and report its findings to the full Committee. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) chaired the bipartisan task force, and Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) joined him as Task Force members.
The task force completed its work on schedule and yesterday delivered a classified Final Report to the Intelligence Committee.
“It was an honor to be chosen by Chairman Feinstein and Vice Chairman Bond to lead this review of our nation’s cybersecurity preparedness, and to work with my distinguished colleagues Senator Mikulski and Senator Snowe,” said Whitehouse. “Cybersecurity is vitally important to America’s national security and economic welfare, and we must ensure that our critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and national security secrets are protected from those who would do our nation harm.”
“There is no place for partisanship when it comes to protecting our nation from cyber raiders and terrorists who are at work every day stealing our secrets and bringing our systems down,” Senator Mikulski said. “Our nation is at risk. Cyber hackers’ offensive capabilities are outpacing our network defenses. Protecting our national security and our very way of life is a bipartisan issue that needs an immediate bipartisan solution. Congress must act now.”
“This report further underscores the bipartisan consensus within the Congress to confront this urgent threat and enact comprehensive cybersecurity legislation,” said Senator Snowe. “Indeed, there is no question that America’s vulnerability to massive cyber crime, global cyber espionage, and cyber attacks has emerged as one of the most urgent national security problems facing our country today. I commend the Leadership of this Committee and Senators Whitehouse and Mikulski for their ongoing commitment to this vital issue and I look forward to working with them further to advance strong and effective cybersecurity policies.”
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