[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16615-16616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             CYBER SECURITY LEGISLATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it was 3 years ago this month that then-
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned the United States of a 
potential ``cyber Pearl Harbor.'' A cyber Pearl Harbor would be 
crippling, and it would be a cyber attack on our Nation's banks, power 
grid, government, and communications network.
  If it sounds scary, that is because it is scary. Cyber terrorists 
could potentially bring the United States to its knees. This 
potentiality is upon us. A catastrophic cyber attack is not farfetched. 
Ted Koppel, the renowned journalist, has written another book, and the 
author reveals that our Nation's power grid is extremely vulnerable to 
cyber terrorism. Imagine the toll of these attacks: massive power

[[Page 16616]]

blackouts, no telephone, no Internet capability--that is on your cell 
phones or whatever phones exist--overwhelmed first responders and an 
infrastructure system reduced to chaos.
  How vulnerable is our Nation to a cyber attack of this magnitude?
  Former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, in the book 
that was written, as I indicated, by Ted Koppel, stated that the 
likelihood of an attack on our Nation's power grid is 80 to 90 
percent--80 percent to 90 percent.
  Craig Fugate, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency, has had to think about a potential cyber attack. It is his job. 
Listen to his assessment:

       We're not a country that can go without power for a long 
     period of time without loss of life. Our systems, from water 
     treatment to hospitals to traffic control to all these things 
     that we expect every day, our ability to operate without 
     electricity is minimal.

  A number of years ago we had, at the direction of Senator Mikulski--a 
long-time member of the Intelligence Committee--a meeting where such an 
attack was discussed and the implications of it. That was years ago. It 
was frightening then, and it is even more frightening now. But as Mr. 
Fugate indicated, that is the scale of threat the United States faces 
with cyber terrorism.
  We as a country must do more to protect ourselves against this cyber 
terrorism. It can be done if Republicans will work with us. Democrats 
tried to pass comprehensive cyber security legislation years ago. What 
happened? It was filibustered by the Republicans. They wouldn't even 
let us on this legislation. They wouldn't even allow us to debate the 
bill. Whatever their reasoning, I am glad the Republicans have finally 
changed course in this decision and allowed this simple bill to move 
forward. We support this legislative effort, but we recognize that it 
is far, far too weak.
  Cyber terrorism and cyber attacks are part of today's world. But 
Republicans are denying the seriousness of this, as they are denying 
something clear to everyone in the world except my Republican Senate 
and House Members. We have climate change taking place that is really 
hurting everybody, with rare, rare exception. Cyber terrorism and cyber 
attacks are part of today's world, just like climate change. To not 
move forward with more comprehensive cyber security legislation and to 
ignore what is happening in our world dealing with climate change will 
in the years to come be considered legislative malpractice. I am sorry 
to say that legislative malpractice is not on our shoulders. We wanted 
for years to do something with climate change. We can't. It is not even 
something that the Republicans will allow us to discuss. We wanted for 
years to do something with cyber security. They refused to do so. We 
have a bill before us that is better than nothing, and we support it. 
But it is far, far too weak.
  Mr. President, I see the assistant Democratic leader on the floor. 
Would the Chair announce before he talks to us what we are going to do 
here today.

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