Cyber scrutiny

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) is promising increased scrutiny of the Obama administration's cybersecurity policies.

As Inside Cybersecurity reports:

"Armed Services is going to get more involved [on cyber] than it ever has," McCain told Inside Cybersecurity on Wednesday.

McCain first promised in November to dig into cyber issues after the Paris terrorist attacks threw a spotlight on encrypted communications and "dark spaces" within the Internet. The administration's "wholly lacking" report on cyber deterrence further provoked the Armed Services chairman earlier this month.

McCain on Wednesday promised hearings and close collaboration with the Intelligence Committee -- all aimed at crafting the national strategy on cybersecurity that he claims the Obama administration has failed to produce.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) "has committed" to such a collaboration "and I think Dianne will too," McCain said, referring to Intelligence ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

The Obama administration, naturally, rejects the characterization of its cybersecurity efforts.

"We have an extensive record of action and accomplishment on cybersecurity," a White House spokesman said, pointing to executive orders on information sharing and other issues, efforts to improve the security of federal networks and a panoply of initiatives undertaken in 2015.

Feinstein, asked about the charge that the administration lacks an overarching cyber strategy, focused on the encryption issue, saying it was "very difficult" to pull together a strategy given differences between law enforcement and the tech community.

"The answer," McCain said, "is you get a policy from this administration. What is an attack? What is the response to an attack? You can't address encryption until you have a policy."

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