Senate Committee Passes Senator Hassan’s Bipartisan Bill to Expand the Cyber Workforce, Strengthen Cybersecurity in the Federal Government

WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) passed bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) to help strengthen cybersecurity in the federal government by expanding the cyber workforce. Senator Hassan is the chair of the HSGAC Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight.

“Cyberattacks are a new frontier of warfare – and it is essential that the federal government stays on top of the threat that malicious cyber actors can pose to our national security,” Senator Hassan said. “The bipartisan bill that our Committee passed will help the federal government strengthen its cybersecurity by expanding the cyber workforce. I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this important bill forward.”

The bipartisan Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Expansion Act, which Senator Hassan introduced with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), would create two new cyber training pilot programs within the federal government to help strengthen American cyber defenses and bolster the federal government’s cyber workforce. One of those programs will specifically train veterans for cybersecurity jobs.

The Committee also passed bipartisan legislation that Senator Hassan cosponsored that would implement a number of recommendations from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to strengthen America’s cyber resilience, address cybersecurity risks for private and public critical infrastructure, and strengthen leadership within key cyber-focused federal offices.

Senator Hassan is leading efforts to strengthen cybersecurity across all levels of government. The latest National Defense Authorization Act, which is now law, included a bipartisan amendment that Senator Hassan introduced to create a cybersecurity state coordinator in each state. Furthermore, in an effort to strengthen cybersecurity within the federal government, Senators Hassan and Rob Portman (R-OH) passed into law the bipartisan Hack DHS Act, which establishes a bug bounty pilot program – modeled off of similar programs at the Department of Defense and major tech companies – that uses vetted “white-hat” or ethical hackers to help identify unique and undiscovered vulnerabilities in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) networks and information technology.

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