House Intel chairman: CISPA is ill but not dead

{mosads}Rogers acknowledged that the revelations about the scope of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs have “damaged the perception” of CISPA. But he said the “sheer determination” of Feinstein and Chambliss gives him hope that Congress would move ahead on the bill.

He said he is working with the senators on tweaks to the bill to provide more oversight and privacy protections. 

CISPA would remove legal barriers that prevent companies from sharing information with each other and the government about cyberattacks. It would also allow the government to share more information with the private sector.

Rogers argued that the bill is necessary to help companies get the information they need to thwart attacks on their systems. 

But privacy advocates fear that CISPA would give the NSA access to a vast new trove of private information. 

The White House has urged Congress to pass cyber information-sharing legislation but threatened to veto CISPA, saying it lacked adequate privacy safeguards. 

“I don’t believe we can walk away from what is the most serious national security threat facing the United States that we are not prepared to handle,” Rogers said.