Massive Coalition of Security Experts, Companies, and Civil Society Groups Urge Obama to Veto CISA

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, a group of 68 security experts, tech companies, and civil society organizations sent a letter urging President Obama to threaten to veto the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA, S. 754). CISA raises many of the same concerns that were the basis of the Administration’s two veto threats over a previous information sharing bill titled CISPA.

This broad coalition strongly opposes CISA because it may undermine Internet security, and it threatens privacy and civil liberties, as well as the traditional civilian control of cyberspace. As the letter states:

The Administration first stated its opposition to CISPA and its intention to veto it because the legislation failed to “preserve [] Americans’ privacy, data confidentiality, and civil liberties and recognize [] the civilian nature of cyberspace.” The following year the Administration again voiced strong opposition to CISPA, and set forth the following three overarching priorities that information sharing legislation:

1. Carefully safeguard privacy and civil liberties;

2. Preserve the long-standing, respective roles and missions of civilian and intelligence agencies; and

3. Provide for appropriate sharing with targeted liability protections.

CISA not only fails to adhere to these important principles, it also fails to effectively address the specific concerns that were raised in those previous Statements of Administration Policy.

The letter urges President Obama to stay true to the important principles that he has laid out for information sharing legislation, and to threaten to veto CISA.

The following quote can be attributed to Robyn Greene, Policy Counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“CISA completely fails to address the President’s stated priorities for information sharing legislation. Unless the Administration has done a 180 on its position on privacy, civil liberties, and civilian control of the Internet, a veto threat is the only option. The President voicing support for the amendment process is not going to get CISA where it needs to be – it’s a train wreck for privacy and security, and Congress simply needs to go back to the drawing board.”

The letter to President Obama is available here.

President Obama’s 2012 veto threat is here, and his 2013 veto threat is available here.

OTI’s analysis of CISA is available here, and a previous coalition letter opposing CISA is available here.