Committee Hearings – Week of 4-18-21

This week, with both the House and Senate in session, there is a full slate of committee hearings. Budget hearings continue and there is one cyber workforce hearing scheduled. The House will take-up one chemical security bill and one piece of cyber related legislation this week.

FY 2022 Budget Hearings

4-21-21 Environmental Protection Agency House IER Subcommittee

Cyber Work Forces

On Wednesday the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on “To receive testimony on the current and future cyber workforce of the Department of Defense and the military services.” The witness list includes:

• Lieutenant General Dennis Crall, DOD Joint Staff,

• Leonard Litton, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for Military Personnel,

• Veronica Hinton, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy,

• John Sherman, Acting Department of Defense Chief Information Officer

Since a major portion of the DOD cyber workforce is on the civilian side of the House, this hearing should provide insights into some of  the problems facing the private sector cybersecurity workforce.

On the Floor

The House is scheduled to take up 23 bills this week under their suspension of the rules process. That means that there will be limited debate, no floor amendments, and the bills will require a supermajority to pass. The House leadership expects that all of the scheduled bills will receive significant bipartisan support.

Included in this week’s consideration are:

HR 397 – CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2021, and

HR 1251 – Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2021

I have not reviewed HR 1251 here as the bill contains no language or definitions that specifically address control system security concerns.