Legislative Activity
This Week’s Hearings:
- Wednesday, November 13: The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing at 10:00 am titled “Cyber Side-Effects: How Secure is the Personal Information Entered into the Flawed Healthcare.gov?”
- Thursday, November 14: At 10:00 am, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing regarding threats to the homeland which is likely to cover some issues related to cybersecurity.
Executive Branch Activity
NIST Cybersecurity Framework
This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold its final workshop with stakeholders to discuss the draft Cybersecurity Framework that was required as part of the President’s Executive Order (EO) on cybersecurity released in February 2013. The workshop will take place on Thursday, November 14 and Friday, November 15 at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Stakeholders can submit comments on the NIST draft Cybersecurity Framework until December 13.
National Infrastructure Protection Plan
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning to release an updated version of its National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) as soon as this week. The NIPP was last updated in 2009 and includes a framework to integrate a range of DHS efforts designed to enhance the safety and security of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
U.S. Cyber Command
General Keith Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), is planning to retire in the spring. Administration officials are currently looking at the possibility of removing the NSA director’s authority over U.S. Cyber Command. DOD is reviewing a list of possible civilian candidates for the NSA director position and has not made a formal decision about whether this position would include some authority over the U.S. Cyber Command.
