“Reitinger Testifies on Cyber Bill” S.3480 Sponsors: Liberman, Collins, Carper

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S.3480 - Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010

Reitinger Testifies on Cyber Bill

As the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 reached its first hearing at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Deputy Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate for the Department of Homeland Security Philip Reitinger spoke about the bill to give the President emergency powers of the Internet during a cyber attack.

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Reitinger said that the administration’s review of the bill, which was released last week, is incomplete and could not give a timeline on when this would be done. He mentioned that revisions of the bill should be aware that the president already has certain emergency powers and care should be taken to avoid overlapping the law.

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He said that the DHS “recognizes that Americans expect the federal government to anticipate, prevent, and respond to cyber threats.” And, he said, the provisions should “acknowledge that the government may need to take extraordinary measures to fulfill these responsibilities.”

QUESTIONS:

Do presidents need S.3480 to shut down the internet?

Should We the People demand limits on a president’s unilateral authority to shut down the internet as an infringement on Freedom of Speech?