Publication

This Congressional Research Service report pertains to Executive Order 13636, Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. The issuance of the executive order in the absence of congressional action raises several questions that are addressed in this report: 1) What are the kinds of threats to the national security and economic interests of the United States that the executive order is intended to address? 2) What steps does it take to address those threats? 3) What is the legislative and constitutional authority for the executive order? And 4) How do its provisions relate to those in the major legislative proposals in the 112th and 113th Congresses?