Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) have formed the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus as a platform for senators and their staff to stay informed on policy issues and developments in cybersecurity, the senators announced June 14 at an American Enterprise Institute event held on Capitol Hill..
“We are launching the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus as a platform to engage in holistic discussions about cybersecurity across Committee jurisdictions, and to keep Senators and their staffs up-to-date on new cyber developments,” Warner said in a statement.
The senators plan for the new caucus to focus on several cybersecurity aspects, including national security impacts, the economy, and digital security. The caucus is tasked with providing “unique opportunities” to inform senators on major cyber policy issues facing Congress, introduce senators and their staff to leading cyber experts, and to promote bipartisan and cross-jurisdictional discussions on cyber issues.
Warner highlighted cybersecurity as one of the most serious economic and national security threats the U.S. faces and that both the public and private sectors must become better prepared to addressed cyber threats.
Gardner agreed and said that as the cyber threat evolves, U.S. strategy should as well and that attempts at addressing the problem have been too short of sufficient.
“We need a grand strategy to combat positively identified bad actors, and that requires a broad policy response that is adaptable to technological developments and the ever-changing cyber field,” Gardner said.
“The goal of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus is to jumpstart discussions about how to best address the cybersecurity challenges we face, and I’m hopeful my colleagues will recognize this caucus’ role in strengthening our national security and join us. We need a whole of government approach to cyber, and this effort will start focusing cyber policy on the full spectrum of threats and opportunities,” he added.
The senators noted that Warner spent 20 years in the technology industry and was an early investor in the cellular telephone business before entering public office while Gardner chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy.
The new Senate caucus comes eight years after Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Michael McCaul (R-Texas), founded a House of Representatives-based Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus.