WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at the Full Committee's hearing entitled, "Cyber Operations Today: Preparing for 21st Century Challenges in an Information-Enabled Society." For testimony and other information and to watch the hearing click here.
Today, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at the Full Committee's hearing entitled, "Cyber Operations Today: Preparing for 21st Century Challenges in an Information-Enabled Society." For testimony and other information and to watch the hearing click here.
"Looking back at my notes from 10 years ago, when Mr. Smith chaired what is now the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee and I was the Ranking Member, I found a number of references to preparing for cyber as a new domain of warfare.
This committee has held many hearings and briefings on this topic over the last 10 years, and we are continuing with more this week, led by Chairwoman Stefanik and Ranking Member Langevin. We have also enacted a number of legislative provisions and authorized a lot of funding. There is no doubt that important progress has been made in building up our military and intelligence capabilities in cyber space over the last decade.
But, I do not think that it is exaggeration to say that our nation has still not faced up to the threat.
Part of the threat to our national security in cyber comes from adversaries stealing information; part of it comes from adversaries working to manipulate our decisions and American public opinion. But part of it is the potential to disrupt our economy, to unleash havoc with our financial system or the electric grid or public health and sanitation. And I have not even begun to discuss the potential effects on military operations.
We still have not answered the fundamental question of what we expect the federal government to do to defend our citizens, our businesses, our infrastructure, and our society in cyber. Meanwhile, the capabilities of our adversaries and their willingness to use them is growing far faster than our response.
The Director of National Intelligence recently assessed, 'The potential for surprise in the cyber realm will increase in the next year and beyond as billions more digital devices are connected—with relatively little built-in security—and both nation states and malign actors become more emboldened and better equipped in the use of increasingly widespread cyber toolkits.'
Our witnesses today have a lot of experience and a lot of expertise in these issues, and I am grateful for their willingness to share their views today in the hopes that not just our committee, but the Congress and the country can move out at the appropriate pace in confronting these challenges."
