HR 2096 Introduced – Cyber Security R&D

Last week Rep. McCaul (R, TX) introduced HR 2096, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2011. The bill would amend the existing provisions of High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5511) and the Cyber Security Research and Development Act (15 U.S.C. 7401) to advance cybersecurity research, development, and technical standards.

While the findings section of this bill specifically mentions “critical infrastructures for electric power, natural gas and petroleum production and distribution, telecommunications, transportation, [and] water supply” {§102(1)} there is not a single mention of control systems in the bill. The clear focus of this bill’s studies, research programs and grant programs remains the conventional cyber security areas of information technology, information and identity assurance, and networking systems.