Dive Brief:
- Members of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee asked private sector executives Wednesday about how to improve cybersecurity at HHS, Morning Consult reports.
- The discussion included a bill (H.R.5068) from Reps. Billy Long (R-Mo) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) aimed at restructuring HHS to have a chief information security officer appointed by the president.
- Mac McMilan, CEO of Cynergis Tek, Inc., one fo the executives at the meeting, wrote in his testimony the CISO role should have equal authority with other senior administrators.
Dive Insight:
"When there is disparity in these relationships there is an opportunity for conflicts of interest to arise, stifled or abbreviated discussion of risk, and an imbalance of priority," McMilan said.
According to Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa), chair of the subcommittee on health, there's a conflict of interest because, "The official in charge of building complex information technology systems is also the official in charge of ultimately declaring those systems secure," Morning Consult reports.