[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 7, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RECOGNIZING GREGORY P. SCHAFFER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROBERT B. ADERHOLT

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 7, 2012

  Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to recognize Gregory P. 
Schaffer for his distinguished service to the Government of the United 
States as the Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications, 
National Protection and Programs Directorate, Department of Homeland 
Security, from May 2009 until March 2012.
  Mr. Schaffer is a national leader in the area of cybersecurity and 
communications. His unique perspective, dedication, and focus on 
identifying solutions to complex problems enabled the Department of 
Homeland Security and the Nation to take critical strides during his 
tenure.
  Mr. Schaffer brought to DHS a blend of technical knowledge, private 
sector understanding, and Federal prosecution experience that enriched 
its cybersecurity and communications efforts.
  Mr. Schaffer's leadership was essential in leading DHS efforts 
related to proposals for a Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. 
With the passage of recent legislation, Mr. Schaffer's concepts and 
structures have the potential to result in a paradigm shift in public 
safety communications.
  During his tenure, DHS developed the National Cyber Incident Response 
Plan, NCIRP, the framework for incident response capabilities and 
coordination among Federal agencies, state and local governments, the 
private sector and international partners during significant cyber 
incidents. With the development of this plan, our Nation is postured to 
more effectively and comprehensively respond to the full range of cyber 
incidents.
  As Chair of the Unified Coordination Group established by the NCIRP, 
Mr. Schaffer led the United States Government response to a number of 
critical cyber incidents impacting the public and private sectors as 
well as international partners.
  Under Mr. Schaffer's leadership and direction, DHS also opened the 
new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center--a 24-
hour, DHS-led coordinated watch and warning and mitigation center that 
enhanced capabilities to address threats and incidents affecting the 
Nation's critical information technology and cyber infrastructure.
  This Center leverages the Einstein program, a set of perimeter 
defenses around the ``.gov'' domain designed to detect, alert, and 
prevent intrusions into and data loss from Federal agency networks. 
Because of Mr. Schaffer's leadership, Einstein 2--which provides 
signature-based intrusion detection technology--is currently deployed 
and operational at 17 of 19 Federal agencies.
  Mr. Schaffer also oversaw effective and diverse incident response 
activities across his cybersecurity and communications portfolio. In FY 
2011 alone, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team 
responded to more than 100,000 incident reports and released more than 
5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts and information products. The 
National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications and the National 
Communications System also led, in accordance with the National 
Response Framework's Emergency Support Function #2, communications 
response activities for the New England floods, Hurricane Irene, the 
2011 Japanese Tsunami, the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, and other significant 
national and international disasters.
  Furthermore, Mr. Schaffer led activities to expand information 
sharing with the private sector through the Cybersecurity Information 
Sharing and Collaboration Program. He also supported development of 
tools to help private sector companies assess and improve their own 
network security, such as the Cyber Security Evaluation Program, CSEP, 
and the Cyber Security Evaluation Tool, CSET.
  We are grateful for his service during a consequential period at the 
Department, and I look forward to his continuing contributions to the 
security of our great Nation.

                          ____________________