Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker delivered remarks at the ribbon cutting dedication for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), an event to celebrate its move to expanded facilities. The Center is run by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County, Md.  

Secretary Pritzker was joined by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), who personally championed the expansion of the Center; Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD); Congressman John Delaney (MD-6); Congressman John Sarbanes (MD-3); Maryland Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford; Montgomery County Maryland Executive Ike Leggett; Dr. Willie E. May, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director of NIST; and some of the nation’s top academic and industry thought leaders in cybersecurity.  

Established by NIST, the Center works with the private sector to identify broad cybersecurity challenges and develop solutions that enable companies of all sizes to better protect themselves from cyber attacks. The new 60,000 square-foot facility has 22 labs, including two large enough to hold vehicles for cybersecurity testing. The Center already has 22 core partner organizations working on focused, solutions-oriented projects that will address a wide range of cybersecurity issues.

During her remarks, Secretary Pritzker highlighted the importance of addressing cyber threats with as much urgency as we do public health crises, natural disasters, and war-time threats. The only way to protect our country against growing threats in cyber space, she said, is through urgent, effective, and constant collaboration among industry, government, and civil society.

“By expanding its facilities, the Center now has greater capacity to add new partners and take on new projects, and we need every company from across every sector to bring specific cybersecurity issues to the Center and commit to working with us to find and implement innovative solutions,” Secretary Pritzker said. “We have a choice. We can engage in well-coordinated and urgent public-private cooperation or we can choose to stay within our silos and watch as hackers and cyber thieves continue to threaten our national and economic security.”

Following her remarks, Secretary Pritzker participated in a panel discussion titled “How to Keep America Open for Business and Increase Consumers’ Cybersecurity Confidence.” Symantec CEO Michael Brown and RSA President Amit Yoran joined as panelists, and Information Technology Industry Council President and CEO Dean Garfield moderated the session. The panelists discussed the importance of building a bridge between federal and local governments and the private sector to better mitigate and prevent growing threats. Additionally, panelists highlighted the importance of skills development for the cybersecurity workforce and the investment needed from both businesses and government to ensure we have the best talent in these critical jobs.

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Willie, for your kind introduction. For those of you who do not have the good fortune of knowing Willie, he is truly one of the kindest, sweetest, and smartest people I have ever met.

Growing up in segregated Birmingham in the 50s and 60s, Willie had to overcome significant challenges to find success in his life. His rise at NIST – from starting as research chemist more than 40 years ago to his role as director today – is truly a testament to his work ethic, his talent, and his luck. I believe luck is when opportunity meets preparation, and Willie is a man who always comes prepared.

Under his leadership, NIST has become the go-to department for everything from manufacturing to standards development to cybersecurity – the reason we are here today.

I want to begin with a number: 24 percent. Three years ago, a survey found that only 24 percent of corporate boards were “very engaged” in managing their companies’ cyber risks.  

Today, 83 percent of boards are at least “moderately engaged” in addressing this risk. This is an improvement, but I am shocked that 100 percent of boards do not view this as a top priority. It is absolutely address cyber threats with as much urgency as we do public health crises, natural disasters, and war-time threats.

Cybersecurity is not a traditional national security issue to be handled only by our military and intelligence services. This threat, and the necessary steps to secure our digital assets, is against all of us.

Companies and their board members are on our country’s front lines to secure our nation’s intellectual property, the integrity of our financial system, our electric grid, our communications network, our healthcare records, our personal information, and more.

This means that every American needs to truly understand what is at stake; that American businesses need to exercise vigilance and dynamic cyber risk management; and that robust public and private partnerships must coordinate to find and deliver solutions to cyber threats.

Today’s celebration of the newly expanded National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence marks an important milestone in our efforts to combat cyber-attacks. Established three years ago by NIST, this Center works with members of industry to identify broad cybersecurity challenges and develop technical solutions that enable companies of all sizes to better protect themselves.

As Willie mentioned, the Center already has 22 core partner organizations working on focused, solutions-oriented projects that will better secure many of the systems that I mentioned previously. We are grateful for those partnerships. However, that is not enough. Some of your peers are not represented here today. By expanding its facilities, the Center now has greater capacity to add new partners and take on new projects, and we need everyone’s help.

We need every company from across every sector to bring specific cybersecurity issues to the Center, and commit to working with us to find and implement innovative solutions. Urgent, effective, and constant collaboration among industry, government, and civil society is the only way to protect our country against growing threats in cyber space.

The success of this collaboration depends on four elements. First, the development of technical solutions – like the work being done here at the Center. Second, a common language for any organization and all its people – not just the IT experts, but the business leaders and risk managers – to understand, manage, and communicate cybersecurity risk both internally and externally. Working with more than 3,000 stakeholders, NIST created this language by developing the Cybersecurity Framework. Mark McLaughlin, the CEO of Palo Alto Networks, recently told me that the Framework is extremely useful to industry and that it provides a way to manage important fundamentals in cybersecurity.

Third, we need clear, efficient structures that enable collaboration and information sharing. These formal policies and partnerships have been established in recent years by legislation and by the Presidential Executive Orders and Directives to improve cyberthreat information sharing.

Finally, we need collaborative action across all sectors and levels of industry, government, and civil society. Right now, we have the basics in place for the first three elements. But I want to be clear: we still have a long way to go to get to the real-time, constant collaboration that we need to address this threat.

We have a choice. We can engage in well-coordinated and urgent public-private cooperation. Or we can choose to stay within our silos and watch as hackers and cyber thieves continue to threaten our national and economic security.  

The stakes are clear. We cannot afford to stand alone and wait. We need to share information with one another and to be bold in our aspirations. Together, I know, we will design a system that leads the world and protects our Nation’s vibrant digital economy.

Now, it is my distinct honor to introduce Senator Barbara Mikulski. She personally fought to include the funding for this Center in NIST’s budget. And she helped us secure funding for two Commerce-led National Network of Manufacturing Innovation institutes – where U.S. private sector and academia will collaborate on taking industry-relevant technologies from lab to market.

Senator, thank you for being a longtime champion for NIST and our Department. When I became Secretary, you took me under your wing, and you have been such an inspiration to me – as a public servant, as a policymaker, and as a friend.

On behalf of myself and the more than 44,000 Commerce Department employees all over the country, thank you for all you have done to support our work over your 39 years of service. Our country will deeply miss you next year.

Please join me in welcoming my dear friend, Senator Barbara Mikulski.