WASHINGTON – The prestigious Aspen Institute’s Homeland Security Group Tuesday issued a powerful endorsement for the revised, bipartisan cybersecurity legislation introduced by Senators Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins, Jay Rockefeller, Dianne Feinstein, and Tom Carper.
A statement signed by 18 leaders in the fields of homeland security, national security, intelligence, and law enforcement – over half of whom were Bush administration appointees confirmed by the Senate — said, “The Aspen Homeland Security group strongly urges the Senate to vote this week to take up S. 3414, the cybersecurity bill, for debate on the floor… The country is already being hurt by foreign cyber-intrusions and the possibility of a devastating cyber attack is real.”
The full statement follows:
“The Aspen Homeland Security Group strongly urges the U.S. Senate to vote this week to take up S3414, the cyber-security bill, for debate on the floor. We urge the Senate to adopt a program of voluntary cyber-security standards and strong positive incentives for critical infrastructure operators to implement those standards. The country is already being hurt by foreign cyber-intrusions, and the possibility of a devastating cyber-attack is real. Congress must act now.”
Charles E. Allen
Stewart A. Baker
Richard Ben-Veniste
Peter Bergen
Michael Chertoff
P.J. Crowley
Clark K. Ervin
Jane Harman
Michael V. Hayden
Michael Leiter
James M. Loy
Paul McHale
John McLaughlin
Phillip Mudd
Eric T. Olson
Guy Swan III
Juan Zarate
Philip Zelikow
The original statement can be seen here.