Putnam, Davis seek changes to Clinger-Cohen
- By Jason Miller
- Jun 18, 2004
Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.)
Reps. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) and Tom Davis (R-Va.) last week added proposed language to four sections of the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act, which governs how agencies make their IT investments.
Their bill, HR 4570, would make cybersecurity a requirement in systems planning and acquisition and would give the Office of Management and Budget greater authority over IT security at agencies.
'Clinger-Cohen was written before the federal government had a large Web presence,' said Putnam, who chairs the Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census. 'It is essential that Clinger-Cohen be modernized to keep pace with these changing threats.'
Davis, chairman of the Government Reform Committee, said that as agencies increasingly use e-government technologies, multiplying the interconnectivity with private-sector systems, departments are exposed to benign as well as malicious disruptions.
'This legislation helps ensure that every federal information system is managed in a way that minimizes the security risks,' Davis said.