Committee Hearings – Week of 04-2-17

This week will be busy week of hearings in both the House and Senate. Of the hearings being held this week there are four that may be of specific interest to readers of this blog; two sector cybersecurity hearings, a markup hearing and a Coast Guard hearing.

Cybersecurity

On Tuesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing to “Examine efforts to protect U.S. energy delivery systems from cybersecurity threats”. The witness list includes:

• Patricia Hoffman, US Department of Energy;

• Andrew Bochman, Idaho National Laboratory;

• Gerry Cauley, North American Electric Reliability Corporation;

• Duane D. Highley, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation;

• Dave McCurdy, American Gas Association; and

• Colonel Gent Welsh, Washington National Guard

On Tuesday, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on “Cybersecurity in the Health Care Sector: Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships”. The witness list includes:

• Denise Anderson, National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center;

• Michael McNeil, Royal Philips; and

• Terry Rice, Merck & Company, Inc.

Interestingly, the hearing background document speaks glowingly of the FDA’s efforts on medical device cybersecurity as a model for the remainder of the healthcare sector.

Markup Hearing

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Technology Committee will hold a markup hearing to look at a number of bills. Of the bills being considered there are three that may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

S 763, Surface and Maritime Transportation Security Act;

S 770, Making Available Information Now to Strengthen Trust and Resilience and Enhance Enterprise Technology (MAIN STREET) Cybersecurity Act

Neither of these bills have been published by the GPO. The links above are to committee drafts of the bills. I am holding off my reviews of the bills until the GPO version is printed.

Coast Guard

On Tuesday, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on “Authorization of Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Programs”. The witness list includes:

• Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, United States Coast Guard;

• Master Chief Steven W. Cantrell, United States Coast Guard

• Michael A. Khouri, Federal Maritime Commission

• Joel Szabat, Maritime Administration