The top Democrats on the Senate Commerce, Intelligence, and Homeland Security committees are working behind the scenes to craft cybersecurity legislation aimed at shoring up President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, they said in interviews last week. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., appears to be leading the charge with a narrowly focused bill aimed at making the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) the lead agency in developing cybersecurity guidelines for U.S. businesses. The Commerce Committee plans a hearing to examine NIST’s role in increasing private sector cybersecurity protections on Thursday, at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Witnesses haven’t been announced.
A preliminary Department of Homeland Security analysis of cybersecurity incentives found that grants to non-price-regulated industries, as well as including the cost of cybersecurity in the base rate for services in price-regulated industries, were the “most effective and efficient” incentives to encourage industry participation in the Obama administration’s efforts to improve cybersecurity in critical infrastructure -- but they also respectively carry the highest cost for the government and consumers, according to a copy of the study we obtained Friday. The document, circulated May 21 among members of the DHS Integrated Task Force’s incentives working group, was a precursor to formal incentive recommendations DHS submitted to the Office of Management and Budget June 12.
Ouya was mum Friday on how many consoles it sold in June and to date after NPD analyst Liam Callahan said U.S. retail sales of the $99 videogame system last month were “relatively light for a new console.” The weak performance “may be due to the lack of a major marquee title driving consumers to seek out the console, low awareness due to Ouya being a new brand, or low inventory volume due to manufacturing constraints,” he said.
The top Democrats on the Senate Commerce, Intelligence, and Homeland Security committees are working behind the scenes to craft cybersecurity legislation aimed at shoring up President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, they said in interviews last week. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., appears to be leading the charge with a narrowly focused bill aimed at making the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) the lead agency in developing cybersecurity guidelines for U.S. businesses. The Commerce Committee plans a hearing to examine NIST’s role in increasing private sector cybersecurity protections on Thursday, at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Witnesses haven’t been announced.
The Commerce Department is beginning antidumping duty investigations on steel threaded rod from India and Thailand, and a countervailing duty investigation on steel threaded rod from India, it said in a July 18 fact sheet. Three domestic producers requested the investigation June 27, alleging rapidly growing imports of steel threaded rod from Thailand and India are underselling U.S. industry, and pushing out domestic producers (see 13070207). They allege dumping margins of 17.93 to 119.87 percent and above de minimis subsidy rates for Indian exporters, and dumping margins of 63.16 to 74.9 percent for Thai exporters, the fact sheet said.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website July 18, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
The National Institute of Standards and Technology believes President Barack Obama’s executive order on cybersecurity was “quite explicit” in emphasizing that the Cybersecurity Framework the agency is developing in consultation with critical infrastructure industries needs to be voluntary, Charles Romine, NIST director-Information Technology Laboratory, told a House Homeland Security subcommittee Thursday. Chairman Pat Meehan, R-Pa., had said he was concerned that some language in the executive order could be interpreted to give agencies the authority to impose regulations via the framework. NIST has a long history of developing frameworks that have governed industry practices in a purely voluntary way, and the agency believes that approach will be effective in developing the framework this time, Romine said. “I'm not concerned about this being a hidden way of getting regulatory authority.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology believes President Barack Obama’s executive order on cybersecurity was “quite explicit” in emphasizing that the Cybersecurity Framework the agency is developing in consultation with critical infrastructure industries needs to be voluntary, Charles Romine, NIST director-Information Technology Laboratory, told a House Homeland Security subcommittee Thursday. Chairman Pat Meehan, R-Pa., had said he was concerned that some language in the executive order could be interpreted to give agencies the authority to impose regulations via the framework. NIST has a long history of developing frameworks that have governed industry practices in a purely voluntary way, and the agency believes that approach will be effective in developing the framework this time, Romine said. “I'm not concerned about this being a hidden way of getting regulatory authority.”
The Commerce Department issued an amended final determination and antidumping duty order on xanthan gum from China (A-570-979), which amends AD rates for six exporter/producer combinations. Because of the International Trade Commissions finding of the threat of injury rather than actual injury, entries of subject merchandise made before July 19 aren't subject to AD duties, so Commerce is directing CBP to end suspension of liquidation for those entries and refund cash deposits. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposits of estimated AD duties will apply to entries beginning July 19.
The departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Commerce and Treasury hope their reports on possible incentives to encourage the private sector to adopt voluntary cybersecurity standards will be made public by the end of the month, said Jeanette Manfra, DHS deputy director running the task force implementing President Barack Obama’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, during a Wiley Rein program Wednesday on implementation of that order. Among other things, the order tasks DHS with overseeing the private sector’s implementation of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) forthcoming voluntary Cybersecurity Framework, including implementation of incentives (CD Feb 14 p1). DHS, Commerce and Treasury submitted separate reports to the Office of Management and Budget June 12 that examined the feasibility and effectiveness of possible incentives, but they have not yet been made public while they undergo an internal review (CD July 8 p9).