[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 21 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 21

 To secure the United States against cyber attack, to enhance American 
competitiveness and create jobs in the information technology industry, 
  and to protect the identities and sensitive information of American 
                        citizens and businesses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             January 25 (legislative day, January 5), 2011

Mr. Reid (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Levin, 
   Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Bingaman) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
               Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To secure the United States against cyber attack, to enhance American 
competitiveness and create jobs in the information technology industry, 
  and to protect the identities and sensitive information of American 
                        citizens and businesses.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cyber Security and American Cyber 
Competitiveness Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Malicious state, terrorist, and criminal actors 
        exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications 
        networks and gaps in cyber security pose one of the most 
        serious and rapidly growing threats to both the national 
        security and economy of the United States.
            (2) With information technology now the backbone of the 
        United States economy, a critical element of United States 
        national security infrastructure and defense systems, the 
        primary foundation of global communications, and a key enabler 
        of most critical infrastructure, nearly every single American 
        citizen is touched by cyberspace and is threatened by cyber 
        attacks.
            (3) Malicious actors in cyberspace have already caused 
        significant damage to the United States Government, the United 
        States economy, and United States citizens: United States 
        Government computer networks are probed millions of times each 
        day; approximately 9,000,000 Americans have their identities 
        stolen each year; cyber crime costs American businesses with 
        500 or more employees an average of $3,800,000 per year; and 
        intellectual property worth over $1,000,000,000,000 has already 
        been stolen from American businesses.
            (4) In its 2009 Cyberspace Policy Review, the White House 
        concluded, ``Ensuring that cyberspace is sufficiently resilient 
        and trustworthy to support United States goals of economic 
        growth, civil liberties and privacy protections, national 
        security, and the continued advancement of democratic 
        institutions requires making cybersecurity a national 
        priority.''
            (5) An effective solution to the tremendous challenges of 
        cyber security demands cooperation and integration of effort 
        across jurisdictions of multiple Federal, State, local, and 
        tribal government agencies, between the government and the 
        private sector, and with international allies, as well as 
        increased public awareness and preparedness among the American 
        people.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that Congress should enact, and the 
President should sign, bipartisan legislation to secure the United 
States against cyber attack, to enhance American competitiveness and 
create jobs in the information technology industry, and to protect the 
identities and sensitive information of American citizens and 
businesses by--
            (1) enhancing the security and resiliency of United States 
        Government communications and information networks against 
        cyber attack by nation-states, terrorists, and cyber criminals;
            (2) incentivizing the private sector to quantify, assess, 
        and mitigate cyber risks to their communications and 
        information networks;
            (3) promoting investments in the American information 
        technology sector that create and maintain good, well-paying 
        jobs in the United States and help to enhance American economic 
        competitiveness;
            (4) improving the capability of the United States 
        Government to assess cyber risks and prevent, detect, and 
        robustly respond to cyber attacks against the government and 
        the military;
            (5) improving the capability of the United States 
        Government and the private sector to assess cyber risk and 
        prevent, detect, and robustly respond to cyber attacks against 
        United States critical infrastructure;
            (6) preventing and mitigating identity theft and guarding 
        against abuses or breaches of personally identifiable 
        information;
            (7) enhancing United States diplomatic capacity and 
        international cooperation to respond to emerging cyber threats, 
        including promoting security and freedom of access for 
        communications and information networks around the world and 
        battling global cyber crime through focused diplomacy;
            (8) protecting and increasing the resiliency of United 
        States' critical infrastructure and assets, including the 
        electric grid, military assets, the financial sector, and 
        telecommunications networks against cyber attacks and other 
        threats and vulnerabilities;
            (9) expanding tools and resources for investigating and 
        prosecuting cyber crimes in a manner that respects privacy 
        rights and civil liberties and promotes American innovation; 
        and
            (10) maintaining robust protections of the privacy of 
        American citizens and their on-line activities and 
        communications.
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