Thune pleased to see Obama address cybersecurity concerns

In the wake of the Sony Pictures cyber attack, U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) welcomed President Barack Obama’s plan to re-establish discussions with Congress on cybersecurity and identity theft concerns on Monday.

“This level of personal engagement on legislation by the president certainly would have helped advance the bipartisan cybersecurity information sharing bill authored by then Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Republican Vice-Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) last year,” Thune, who is also chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act ultimately stalled in the Senate. 

“After approval of the bill at the committee level, Senate Democratic Leadership refused to give it a vote on the Senate floor,” Thune said. “President Obama’s engaged support for similar legislation this Congress would help address cyber threats, improve privacy protections, and would also begin to address concerns over the president’s go-it-alone approach of unilateral executive actions on cyber and other issues.”

The president intends to make these security issues a priority this week, beginning with a speech today on consumer privacy protection at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Obama also will meet with Thune and other congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss such topics as the creation of a uniform national standard for contacting affected consumers after a data breach. He also will visit the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity center.

“As chairman of the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FTC and cybersecurity issues related to the private sector, I stand ready to work with the president,” Thune said. “I look forward to our meeting at the White House and hope that the president’s actions on this critical subject match his rhetoric about working with Congress.”