Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, today voted for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act after working with colleagues to strengthen the bill’s privacy protections. Larsen helped build support for key amendments that strengthen privacy protections, oversight and accountability.

“Near daily news reports are an important reminder that foreign governments and criminal organizations wage a continuous assault on our networks to steal Americans’ private information,” Larsen said. “This legislation is an appropriate response that will help American companies and the U.S. government work proactively to combat cyber threats and protect personal data.

“This is a different and better bill than the version the House passed last year. I only voted for this bill after working with my colleagues to strengthen privacy requirements. I voted for a key amendment that sets civilian agencies as the primary collectors of cyber threat information rather than defense agencies. The bill also requires the government to remove any personally identifiable information from shared data and delete data that is not being used in active investigations.

“This legislation will strengthen the United States’ ability to combat cyber threats and protect Americans’ private data. I remain committed to making sure that private information is protected, and any data shared with the government is only used to stop cyber threats.”