A special briefing for lawmakers occurred last Wednesday to explain possible scenarios of a cyber attack on U.S. infrastructure, Federal News Radio reported.
John Brennan, White House deputy national security advisor for homeland security and counterterrorism, lead the briefing.
An interagency team of 11 officials from defense and civilian agencies attended the meeting.
Federal News Radio reported attendees included:
- Ashton Carter, deputy secretary of Defense
- Cam Kerry, general counsel of the Commerce Department
- Chris Painter, coordinator of cyber issues at the State Department
- Howard Schmidt, cybersecurity coordinator at the White House
- James Cole, deputy attorney general
- Janet Napolitano, homeland security secretary
- Gen. Keith Alexander, National Security Agency director and Cyber Command leader
- Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Thomas D’Agostino, undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration
- Robert Mueller, FBI director
- Stephanie O’Sullivan, principal deputy director of national intelligence
Two cybersecurity bills have already been introduced in the Senate and one in the House.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 was introduced in February and would give the DHS primary responsibility of establishing cybersecurity standards.
The SECURE IT Act is the second cybersecurity bill which proposes incentives to owners of critical infrastructure to share threat information with the federal government.
Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) is expected to introduce a House version of the SECURE IT Act this week, according to Federal News Radio.
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) has introduced the Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act of 2011.
Lungren’s bill designates DHS as the lead for shielding both federal and private sector networks and systems.
