House Intel Chair Joins Former Sec. Chertoff at Cybersecurity Law Program

House Intel Chair Joins Former Sec. Chertoff at Cybersecurity Law Program

March 27, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC, March 28, 2013 — Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff addressed the complexity of cybersecurity threats at a program sponsored by Covington & Burling and The Chertoff Group. Mr. Chertoff is senior of counsel at Covington and chairman and founder of The Chertoff Group.

The event, held today at Covington’s Washington headquarters, attracted more than 150 attendees from industry and the government. The program examined the depth of the cybersecurity threat confronting U.S. and global businesses, and security and economic considerations of various legislative and policy tools to the threat. The discussion addressed the impact of President Obama’s recent Cybersecurity Executive Order for the private sector, and also covered the prospect for future cybersecurity-related legislation.

The panel of speakers included moderator David Fagan, a Covington partner who has focused on cybersecurity law for the past decade; Scott Aaronson, director of government affairs at Edison Electric Institute; James Mulvenon, vice president at Defense Group, Inc.; Covington partners Robert Nichols and John Veroneau; and Prescott Winter, managing director at The Chertoff Group.

“Today, unfortunately, corporate America must understand this is the new normal,” Secretary Chertoff said. “It is no longer about ‘if’ you will be breached but ‘when.’ Being prepared with a thoughtful risk management strategy helps ensure you are making appropriate cybersecurity investments at the network level and building a more resilient organization.”

“Cybersecurity is a headline grabber right now, but it’s not something that is easily understood, and that’s because it is complex,” Fagan said. “The challenges are multi-dimensional -- they are technical, definitional, social, and international -- and they implicate both important security and economic policy considerations. We thought it was important to unpack these complexities, explore them in depth, and also provide a perspective on what realistically can be accomplished in the near term on cybersecurity law and policy.”