Elections could alter cyber legislative landscape

Several tight races could shift control not only of the Senate, but of committees dealing with cybersecurity legislation and funding.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee could lose four of its nine Democratic members between three tight races and Sen. Carl Levin’s (D-Mich.) retirement come 2015.

That includes Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.), who is also chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which has sway over the cyber workforce training dollars.

{mosads}Landrieu, who has been vocal about securing cybersecurity education and jobs, is expected to win tonight’s election in Louisiana but not with the 50 percent necessary for an outright victory. That will send her to a runoff election in December, mostly likely against Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy, who will be favored to win. 

Two other panel members, Alaska Democrat Mark Begich and Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor, are also in trouble.

Overall, the panel has worked on bills to bolster cybersecurity resources at the Department of Homeland Security and delineate clear cybersecurity guidelines for federal information security. 

Separately, civil libertarians are worried they’ll lose an ally in Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who is trailing Republican Rep. Cory Gardner in polls. 

Udall was one of only three “no” votes against the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which is opposed by groups worried about privacy. 

The measure would create protections for the government and private sector to share cyber threat indicators, although the bill’s detractors are concerned about the lack of specificity about what information will be shared.