Prospects waned for legislation designed to strengthen U.S.defenses against computer attacks as an assistant to PresidentBarack Obama called Republican opposition “hard to believe.”

With the U.S. Senate set to leave Washington by the end of thisweek for its August recess, Majority Leader Harry Reid, a NevadaDemocrat, is seeking to end debate today and move to a vote on acybersecurity proposal backed by Obama.

Efforts to forge a compromise have bogged down as Republicanscontend that even voluntary standards to protect criticalinfrastructure would harm business, and senators from both partiesoffered amendments on topics including gun control and Obama'shealth-care overhaul.

“Presidential politics are overtaking this bill at a rapidclip,” Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary for policy atthe Department of Homeland Security, said in an interview.

“There are too many people willing to play politics with thisand too many outside groups wanting it to die, and it's finallycatching up with the bill,” said Baker, a partner at the Steptoe& Johnson law firm in Washington.

Lawmakers have failed to reach consensus amid warnings bycurrent and former national security officials that U.S. networksare vulnerable to disruption by hackers and computer viruses, andto digital espionage by China and other countries intent onstealing American intellectual property.

Obama's administration yesterday made a final push for theSenate legislation, which it says is necessary to protect thenation from a potentially catastrophic cyber attack.

“We find it hard to believe that there is any reason or basis tooppose this legislation,” John Brennan, the White Housecounterterrorism adviser, told reporters on a conference callyesterday.

Wrangling in the Senate has focused on security standards forprivately owned infrastructure, such as power grids andwater-treatment plants. Even if the Senate passes a bill, it willhave to be reconciled with a differing measure that passed theHouse of Representatives, as Congress grapples with pendingautomatic spending cuts and prepares for the November election.

Sponsors of the Senate bill, led by Joe Lieberman, a Connecticutindependent, revised their measure last month in a bid to winRepublican support. They replaced cybersecurity requirements forinfrastructure that would be established by the Homeland Securitydepartment with a system of voluntary standards, encouraged byincentives such liability protection.

Lieberman also changed provisions allowing businesses andgovernment to share cyber threat information, adding privacyprotections for consumer data in a nod to concerns expressed bycivil liberties groups.

Opponents Unmoved

The changes so far haven't swayed Republicans and industrygroups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Financial ServicesRoundtable, and American Bankers Association, which have called thevoluntary standards a back door to additional governmentregulation.

“The people who are directly affected by this, and that's thebusiness community of the United States of America, is unalterablyopposed to the legislation in its present form,” Senator JohnMcCain, an Arizona Republican, said on the Senate flooryesterday.

McCain is sponsor of an alternative bill, supported by theChamber of Commerce and business groups, which would promotesharing of cyber threat information without includinginfrastructure security mandates. The Republican-controlled Houseof Representatives passed a similar measure in April.

General Keith Alexander, director of the National SecurityAgency and U.S. Cyber Command, said last month that cyber attackson critical infrastructure increased 17-fold between 2009 and 2011.He cited reports that digital adversaries have stolen $1 trillionof U.S. intellectual property.

“This is rising to be a greater threat than any other threat weface today,” Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Securityand Government Affairs Committee, said yesterday. He implored hiscolleagues to hold back amendments on such unrelated topics ashealth care and gun control that could thwart the legislation.

Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Charles Schumer ofNew York had proposed an amendment putting limits on high-capacitygun magazines, like one used in the July 20 Colorado theatershooting.

It's difficult to see how the co-sponsors could alter the billfurther, given the compromises they've already made by moving tovoluntary industry standards, James Lewis, technology programdirector at the Center for Strategic and International Studies inWashington, said in an interview.

“They've already thrown so much overboard, there's very littleleft to sacrifice,” Lewis said.

The Lieberman bill is S. 3414. The McCain bill is S. 3342. TheHouse bill is H.R. 3523.

Bloomberg News

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