House working group to examine supply chain security
A bipartisan working group will look at the federal government's role in establishing best practices, among other things.
The House of Representatives wants to steer the conversation on government's role in securing the telecommunications and information technology supply chain.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who chairs the Communications and Technology subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, picked two other lawmakers to co-chair a working group tasked with finding ways to assess vulnerabilities and minimize cybersecurity and other risks posed by the sprawling, global IT supply chain.
Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) will lead the group. The announcement came at a hearing on supply chain risks on May 21.
Among other issues, the group will consider whether the federal government should use its role as a role as large purchaser of network equipment to establish fixed requirements or a set of best practices for supply chain security.
Rogers is known as an activist on IT supply chain issues and cybersecurity writ large. He's the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and author of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act that recently passed the House. In 2012 he and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), ranking member on the intelligence committee, issued a scathing report that raised questions about links between Chinese IT firms Huawei and ZTE and entities in the Chinese military and government accused of cyberespionage activities.
Eshoo, whose Silicon Valley district is home to Google's headquarters and NASA's Ames Research Center, is a longtime activist on supply chain integrity. Other members of the group include Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah), and Lee Terry (R-Neb.).