Ratcliffe’s bill to modernize DHS cybersecurity diagnostics, mitigation advances to Senate

The U.S. House on Sept. 4 approved legislation from U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to update the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“I’m grateful for the strong, bipartisan support of my House colleagues in passing my CDM codification bill, and I’m hopeful the Senate will act swiftly to advance this important measure on behalf of our national security,” Rep. Ratcliffe said on Tuesday.

The House passed by voice vote the amended Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act, H.R. 6443, introduced on July 19 by Rep. Ratcliffe. Cosponsors of the measure include U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), John Katko (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Dan Donovan (R-NY) and Cedric Richmond (D-LA).

H.R. 6443 would require creating policies and procedures for reporting systemic cybersecurity risks, regularly deploying new technologies, and crafting an ongoing improvements strategy for the program, according to a summary released by Rep. Ratcliffe’s office.

If enacted, H.R. 6443 would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the DHS Secretary to establish the CDM program’s policies and procedures based on data the program collects, according to a draft of the legislation.

“Codification will help promote its ongoing success and improvement, so we can ensure our federal network protection efforts keep pace with the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape,” added Rep. Ratcliffe, chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, which has oversight of the CDM program.

H.R. 6443 now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.