Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain's (R-AZ) disdain for the Obama administration's cybersecurity policies has never been a mystery, but it could soon further manifest itself in a very public way.
"Armed Services is going to get more involved [on cyber] than it ever has," McCain told Inside Cybersecurity on Wednesday.
McCain first promised in November to dig into cyber issues after the Paris terrorist attacks threw a spotlight on encrypted communications and "dark spaces" within the Internet. The administration's "wholly lacking" report on cyber deterrence further provoked the Armed Services chairman earlier this month.
About this feature:
'The Editor Reports' is a new feature from Inside Cybersecurity intended to identify themes emerging from our news coverage and pose questions about the direction of evolving cybersecurity policies. Email comments to cmitchell@iwpnews.com.
McCain on Wednesday promised hearings and close collaboration with the Intelligence Committee -- all aimed at crafting the national strategy on cybersecurity that he claims the Obama administration has failed to produce.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) "has committed" to such a collaboration "and I think Dianne will too," McCain said, referring to Intelligence ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
The Obama administration, naturally, rejects the characterization of its cybersecurity efforts.
"We have an extensive record of action and accomplishment on cybersecurity," a White House spokesman said, pointing to executive orders on information sharing and other issues, efforts to improve the security of federal networks and a panoply of initiatives undertaken in 2015.
Feinstein, asked about the charge that the administration lacks an overarching cyber strategy, focused on the encryption issue, saying it was "very difficult" to pull together a strategy given differences between law enforcement and the tech community.
"The answer," McCain said, "is you get a policy from this administration. What is an attack? What is the response to an attack? You can't address encryption until you have a policy."
McCain said his committee will hold hearings on cybersecurity issues, though nothing has been set.
Is this just another committee jumping on cybersecurity and muddying the waters? McCain himself has identified that as problem on Capitol Hill.
In this case, jurisdictional jealousies may not be a factor. Intelligence was the lead committee on info-sharing in past Congresses. But the Intelligence Committee has never tried to put a fence around cyber issues, which are by nature cross-cutting and of interest to various panels.
What remains to be seen is what exactly McCain intends to bring to the table in a cybersecurity debate that touches on so many different policy areas. -- Charlie Mitchell, editor, Inside Cybersecurity