U.S. Senate Rushing to Move Cyber-Surveillance CISA Bill Amid NSA Spying

The controversial cybersecurity legislation Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) will be passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, said the panel’s spokeswoman.

Information-sharing on cyber threats between private companies and intelligence agencies will be improved through this measure known as the CISA. There were some concerns expressed by the White House and Democrats over the measure and therefore the approval of it was halted.


Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) were the two top lawmakers of the panel who together, worked on the legislation, last year’s updated version of Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.

The Hill was told by sources that senate leadership wants the bill to be brought down to the floor soon.

For industry groups, government official and lawmakers, it is crucial to have a threat-sharing bill enacted as it is a significant matter for them. The measure is seen by various giant companies such as Microsoft, Lockheed Martin and Morgan Stanley as a method to enhance U.S cyber defenses.

Department of Homeland Security-focused cyber information-sharing bill has been written by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee itself that has got more support from Democratic and White House. However, there is not any defined timeline for the measure.

More data can now be collected by the National Security Agency is the criticism placed by the privacy advocates against a recent draft bill by the Intelligence Committee. In order to mitigate the concerns, the White House has proposed that the DHS will be put at the center of threat-sharing forum.

There was one lobbyist who is doubtful about whether Intel will be marking up the draft of the legislation that is being distributed all around or whether there would some further changes before the committee meeting is held tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

The Cyber Bill could be taken up within just one month of the Senate action by the House, said the sources.

Inclusion of privacy and targeted liability protections along with ensuring that threat sharing is voluntary are some of the demands of the Information Technology Industry (IIT) Council.

The ITI Director of Global cybersecurity Policy, Danielle Kriz, wrote in a blog post that sharing is not an object but a tool which will facilitate the improvement of cybersecurity as individuals can conveniently track losses and provide protection to customers, partners and their systems.

Cyber-crime can be addressed more quickly along with helping the general population if the appropriate stakeholders in government and the private sector as well, have the cyber threat information at their hands as soon as possible, claim sources.

Many advocates have said they cannot support any information-sharing bill before Congress passes NSA surveillance reform. So far, neither chamber of Congress has introduced NSA legislation this year. A bill to curtail the NSA’s mass surveillance of U.S. call data narrowly died in the Senate last November.