Committee Hearings – Week of 03-24-19

With both the House and Senate back in Washington this week after their St. Patrick’s Day recess the budget is the major hearing topic. There will also be three hearings that are related to cybersecurity.

Budget

The list below shows hearings that relate to topics covered in this blog. Where ‘Subcommittee’ is noted this refers to a subcommittee of the relevant appropriations committee. There is an interesting article on TheHill.com describing the current budget process.

• House Armed Services Committee – 2020 NDAA Budget Request

• House Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee - DOE

• House Homeland Security Subcommittee – Coast Guard

• House Budget Committee - DOD

• House Defense Subcommittee – NSA and Cyber Command

• Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee – DOT

• Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee - DOE

Cybersecurity Hearings

On Tuesday the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity of the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on “Cybersecurity Responsibilities of the Defense Industrial Base”. The witness list includes:

• William A. LaPlante, MITRE National Security Sector;

• John Luddy, Aerospace Industries Association;

• Christopher Peters, The Lucrum Group; and

• Michael P. MacKay, Progeny Systems Corporation

The supply chain security topic will almost certainly be raised. Industrial control system security issues is a more remotely possible topic that could arise.

On Wednesday the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will hold a markup hearing that will include two cyber related bills:

• S 771 - Small Business Cyber Training Act; and

• S 772 - SBA Cyber Awareness Act.

Neither of these bills has been published yet, so I am not entirely sure that either really deal with cybersecurity issues, much less ICS cybersecurity.

On Wednesday the Aviation and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing looking at “The State of Airline Safety: Federal Oversight of Commercial Aviation”. The witness list includes:

• Robert Sumwalt, National Transportation Safety Board;

• Calvin Scovel, Department of Transportation; and

• Daniel Elwell, Federal Aviation Administration 

Since this hearing is focusing on the Boeing 737 Max fiasco, control system issues are likely to be discussed. It is unlikely that cybersecurity issues related to those systems will be included in the discussion, but we can always hope.