FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 12, 2020

Contact: Matthew Felling (King) (202) 257-7345

Cyberspace Solarium Co-Chairs and Commissioners to Testify Wednesday Before Senate Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, Wednesday May 13^th, 2020, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC), will join CSC co-chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Commissioners Suzanne Spaulding and Thomas Fanning to testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and present the CSC’s recommendations to establish a comprehensive, forward-looking cybersecurity posture for the United States. The final report, issued on March 11, lays out more than 75 recommendations to improve the security of U.S. critical infrastructure and implement a tactic to restore deterrence in cyberspace.

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s final report can be read in full HERE. Click HERE to read or download the detailed executive summary.

WHO: Senator Angus King

Representative Mike Gallagher

Commissioner Suzanne Spaulding, Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Commissioner Thomas Fanning, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Southern Company

WHAT: Evolving the U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy and Posture: Reviewing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission Report

Hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs

WHEN: Wednesday, May 13^th, 2020

Hearing begins at 9:30 a.m.

WHERE: The full hearing can be livestreamed HERE.

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission was established by statute in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and officially launched in April 2019. The Commissioners convened nearly every Monday that Congress was in session for a year, and its staff conducted more than 400 engagements, drawing upon the expertise of corporate leaders, federal, state and local officials, academics, and cybersecurity experts. The meetings and the ensuing report sought to understand America’s posture in cyberspace and identify opportunities to improve our national preparedness to defend ourselves against cyberattacks.

The CSC was established in the spirit of the original Project Solarium convened by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. The original Solarium was created to develop a consensus strategy to counter the Soviet Union as it was threatening the United States and its allies in the early days of the Cold War. This work contributed to the strategies that guided the United States through the Cold War ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The newest iteration of the Solarium seeks to create a path forward that will guide the United States through a new age of warfare.

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