Having reintroduced the Cybersecurity Freedom Act of 2011 on Feb. 17 (S.413 .pdf), the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee is now waiting for high-level views on the legislation from the White House, said Majority Counsel Jeff Greene, who added that the administration's feedback is a key element for moving forward.  

Cybersecurity is one of the few issues that will not be affected by midterm elections, said Greene while speaking on a March 3 panel at the American Bar Association's Homeland Security Law Institute in Washington, D.C.

"The members are very serious about this. They get the briefings; they know that we're at risk. In the best tradition of the Congress and the country, when we're talking about national security issues, most of the politics has fallen off to the side," said Greene.

While stressing the importance of setting clear lanes for cyber incident response, David Delaney, deputy associate general counsel in the office of general counsel at the Homeland Security Department, also aimed to temper extreme language that has entered the debate.

Cyberspace is not a "war zone," he said, much like the territory of the United States is not a war zone. The responsibility of DHS to secure it is not uniquely, or even predominantly, because cyberspace must be viewed as a war zone, said Delaney.

"Whether you call it cyber war or not, it doesn't really matter to us," added Greene. "What we're talking about is critical infrastructure, the vulnerabilities that are in our systems as we become more and more dependent on the Internet."

The reintroduced Senate bill no longer includes a proposal to give the president the ability to shut down parts of the Internet--the so called "kill switch" provision--and resolves judicial review issues around critical infrastructure. Still, the emphasis on "covered critical infrastructure" has not been diminished.

"Our view is that [DHS] is the proper place for defending the .gov and to lead the federal effort to assist the .com," said Greene.

Whether or not the legislation passes, Delaney said government needs to be engaging the private sector more actively and more regularly.

The public and private sector communities are getting tired of the "better public-private partnership" mantra, he said. "Maybe we should take this up a level and stop talking about particular partnerships and what contract or MOA we should sign for a particular thing, but bring strategic thinkers together to develop and get ahead of the law and get ahead of the issues that could be problematic," said Delaney.

He said he sees incremental progress in this area with the Critical Infrastructure Partnerships Advisory Council. The forum allows industry and government to collaborate, lay issues on the table and work through them, offering a glimpse into what may be faced in a cyber emergency, he said.

For more:
- listen to a recording of the panel

Related Articles:
Audio: ABA cybersecurity panel with David Delaney and Jeff Greene
Cyber bill would reform FISMA, instate new DHS agency and appoint White House-level authority
Guest Commentary: Matt Olney on Lieberman cybersecurity bill 
Majority of Americans support Internet kill switch, says poll 
Open Internet debate causes more censorship in China