Bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress yesterday seeking to raise the stakes for foreign actors engaging in cyber espionage against the United States.
The Cyber Economic Espionage Accountability Act (H.R. 2281) calls for the Justice Department to bring more economic espionage cases against offending foreign actors and would deny foreign agents from participating in cyber crimes from applying for visas to enter the United States.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), and in the Senate by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
“This is a vital step to let China know that there are real consequences to stealing American intellectual property and robbing U.S. ingenuity and innovation in order to gain competitive advantage,” Rogers said in a statement. “This rampant theft is crushing American jobs. We need to identify these economic cyber criminals and create valid consequences to prevent them from undermining our economy and compromising U.S. national security.”
Ryan said the “bill will give the president and Congress the power and oversight to deal with foreign cyber espionage in a meaningful way.”