Senate Intel cyber bill is GOP’s first choice

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s controversial cybersecurity bill being marked up Thursday afternoon has become “option A” for leaders on the issue among Senate Republicans.

It’s the most “robust” Senate measure aimed at preventing the digital assaults that have crippled companies such as Sony and Home Depot, said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), whose committee has been considering its own cyber bill.

{mosads}“I want to be very supportive of what the Intelligence Committee is doing,” Johnson told reporters after a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Thursday morning. “If we can get that bill passed, that’d be a good thing.”

Several committees this year have been considering a measure to boost the exchange of cyber threat data between the public and private sector. Government officials and most industry groups argue it’s the necessary first step in defending the companies and federal agencies from the rising tide of hackers.

The Intelligence panel’s bill — known as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) — would allow companies to share information directly with several intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA), worrying privacy advocates.

The White House and many Democrats have encouraged the Homeland Security Committee to move on its own bill that would require companies sharing cyber data with the government to go through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a civilian agency.

The administration even rolled out its own DHS-centric plan, which was recently introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (Del.), the top Democrat on Homeland Security.

But Johnson, the committee’s chair, wants to give Intelligence a chance to get its bill passed first.

“I’m just going to bide my time,” he said. “I’m certainly standing ready to make sure if that doesn’t pass, if the White House basically blocks us … we’ll take up option B, which might be something through our committee.”

The top two lawmakers on Intelligence — Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) — have worked on CISA together.

“That’s a bipartisan effort,” Johnson said. “Feinstein’s been working hard on this. I think she holds a great deal of influence with her colleagues.”

Johnson said Carper “wanted me to sign on” to his version of the White House’s cyber info-sharing proposal.

“I said, ‘No, I want to be supportive of the Senate bill, I want to keep my options open,’ ” Johnson said. “I don’t know how this all plays out.”

But with the White House, several Democrats and privacy advocates currently opposed to CISA, Johnson admitted the bill will face tough odds.

“It might be too ambitious,” he said. A DHS-focused bill may be more “politically acceptable to everyone.”

CISA’s fate might be known relatively soon. Intelligence Committee staffers are pushing to get the bill quickly to the floor, before the end of the month if possible.