Burgess, Ratcliffe probe local, state response capabilities to cyber threats in field hearing

U.S. Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX) convened a field hearing on Thursday in Sherman, Texas, to better understand how local and state officials handle cyber incidents.

During the field hearing, Burgess and Ratcliffe learned how local and state officials protect against, respond to and investigate cyber incidents.

“Cybersecurity isn’t just a national security issue – it’s a community issue,” Ratcliffe, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies, said. “Cyber incidents are making up a growing portion of the challenges our state and local first responders face on a daily basis, and they need to be prepared for these evolving threats.”

Ratcliffe added that it was “important to take a step away from Washington” to evaluate cyber preparedness through a local lens during the field hearing in Texas.

In addition to probing local and state preparedness and response, the hearing also enabled lawmakers to explore cyber training opportunities that could help improve the ability of state and local officials to respond to future incidents.

“While Chairman Ratcliffe’s subcommittee deals with the ‘.gov side’ of the world, my subcommittee deals with the ‘.com side’ of the world,” Burgess, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, said. “Ultimately, data security is national security. This hearing comes at an ideal time as all Americans prepare to file their taxes next week and many will face the very real hurdle when they discover that their accounts that have been diverted in the past due to a breach of personal data.”

Burgess’s subcommittee advanced the Data Security and Breach Notification Act, H.R. 1770, last year. The measure, which would establish national standards and procedures to notify consumers of data breaches, next heads to the House floor for consideration.