McCain's Dirty Cyber Politics

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Roland Burris, D-Ill., are playing politics with the Senate's new cybersecurity legislation. The mostly positive hearing was momentarily turned into McCain's personal soapbox to espouse the Homeland Security Department's alleged mishandling of the Christmas Day terrorist attack with DHS' ability to head a newly created center for cybsecurity and communication, as proposed in the bill. As currently written, the new center would be patterned after the country's National Counterterrorism Center.

McCain's comments were more than out-of-place, and strangely, pushed further by Burris. It left me scratching my head wondering, "What in the world are these two talking about"? I wasn't sure if McCain was setting himself up for another run at President Barack Obama, or if this was the making of a public falling out with his good friend and bill sponsor Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. Whatever the case, the two examples are in no way mutually exclusive.

As for my own opinion on DHS, I'm still culling information and talking with my sources (more on this later in the week), but I certainly wouldn't compare the agency's role on a terrorist attack from a year ago to its ability to handle cybersecurity matters. Lieberman was correct to point out later in the hearing that the State Department shared in the mistakes that lead to a terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound plane. Yet, McCain didn't go so far as to advocate for State to quit overseeing its diplomatic responsibilities in Yemen, where the young terrorist allegedly learned his craft.

"I have to say after the handling of the Christmas Day bomber, I'm not confident DHS, at this particular time, is the proper bureaucracy to work in partnership, particularly with the Department of Defense," McCain said.

"We'll try and convince you that DHS is the right agency that can do it," Lieberman said in response. I suppose if anyone can, it would be Lieberman, his close personal friend.

McCain and Burris's reservations also departed from the legislation's significant hurdle from last time around: whether creating an office (more government) in the White House was needed. There didn't seem to be any issues with the bill's inclusion of an executive office for cybersecurity today, a step in a positive direction.

The bill, McCain and Burris aside, was mostly praised from both sides of the aisle, even referred to as a bill with "tri-partisan" support (Lieberman as the independent). However, Philip R. Reitinger, deputy undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at DHS, said the agency has no official position on the legislation at this point. And though all my journalistic instincts tell me I shouldn't, because I'm just a "blogger," I think it's safe to say his answers were pretty suggestive of DHS' future public support. If you don't believe me, read his testimony for yourself.

As for a time frame on any potential votes, Lieberman did say Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has clearly told him "he wants the committee to pass cybersecurity legislation this year."