Rep. Sanchez Cybersecurity & Counterterrorism Amendments Adopted in Homeland Security Markup

Press Release

Today, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), senior member of the Committee on Homeland Security, advanced legislation to improve our fight against terrorism. The Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved Rep. Sanchez's amendments to strengthen H.R. 5859, the "Community Counterterrorism Preparedness Act", and H.R. 5459, the "Cyber Preparedness Act".

The "Community Counterterrorism Preparedness Act", establishes a grant program to help major metropolitan areas prepare for, and prevent, terror attacks including active shooters. Rep. Sanchez's amendment to H.R. 5859 instructs the Department of Homeland Security to provide unclassified threat information and best practices to grant applicants.

"This minor fix is consistent with our need to integrate and coordinate our Federal and State efforts to fight and prevent threats on the Homeland," said Rep. Sanchez. "With this change we not only provide needed funds to help regions prepare for attacks, we also give them critical tips and best practices to help them respond."

Rep. Sanchez's amendment to the "Cyber Preparedness Act of 2016" clarifies that Homeland Security grants for states and urban areas can be used for similar statewide initiatives. This amendment will help increase the capability of states and local entities (e.g. the California Cybersecurity Information Center) to use Homeland Security grants for improving cybersecurity sharing dissemination and threat identification.

"Data breaches threaten the security and economic well-being of our nation," said Rep. Sanchez. "Given our increased reliance on cyber technology for commerce and critical infrastructure, and given the increasing sophistication of hackers who would do us harm, we must improve our efforts to identify, neutralize, and prevent cyber-attacks."

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