Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Episode #77: An Interview with Bruce Andrews

Stewart Baker
Tuesday, July 28, 2015, 3:40 PM

Our guest for episode 77 is Bruce Andrews, the deputy secretary of the Commerce Department. Alan Cohn and I pepper Bruce with questions about export controls on cybersecurity technology, stopping commercial cyberespionage, the future of the NIST cybersecurity framework, and how we can get on future cybersecurity trade missions, among other things.

In the news roundup, Alan and I puzzle over the administration’s reluctance to blame China for its hacks of US agencies.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

Our guest for episode 77 is Bruce Andrews, the deputy secretary of the Commerce Department. Alan Cohn and I pepper Bruce with questions about export controls on cybersecurity technology, stopping commercial cyberespionage, the future of the NIST cybersecurity framework, and how we can get on future cybersecurity trade missions, among other things.

In the news roundup, Alan and I puzzle over the administration’s reluctance to blame China for its hacks of US agencies.

The furor over cybersecurity export controls continues unabated, with a couple of hundred hostile comments filed and Congress beginning to stir. Alan Cohn fills us in.

The UK high court ruling on data retention makes history but maybe only the most evanescent of law. Alan and I discuss whether the ruling will resemble Marbury v. Madison in more ways than one.

France finalizes expansion of surveillance. Bush administration figures come out against back doors. Cyberweek begins and, the cyber left hopes, ends without progress on CISA.

This Week in Prurient Cybersecurity: The first Ashley Madison subscriber is outed. And he’s Canadian. Looks like the nights really are longer up there. Ottawa apparently leads the world in percentage of would-be adulterers, followed by Washington, DC. No further comment seems necessary.

And Bloomberg says that the Chinese attempt to build a database on Americans didn’t begin with OPM or Anthem, but with the compromise of travel databases two years ago.

This time, Alan hints, the FTC may throw away the key, as it once again takes action against LifeLock. And the Seventh Circuit wades into the debate over how much harm a data breach plaintiff must suffer to have standing to sue.

The Cyberlaw Podcast is now open to feedback. Send your questions, suggestions for interview candidates, or topics to CyberlawPodcast@steptoe.com. If you’d like to leave a message by phone, contact us at +1 202 862 5785.

Download the seventy-seventh episode (mp3).

Subscribe to the Cyberlaw Podcast here. We are also now on iTunes and Pocket Casts!

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.


Stewart A. Baker is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. He returned to the firm following 3½ years at the Department of Homeland Security as its first Assistant Secretary for Policy. He earlier served as general counsel of the National Security Agency.

Subscribe to Lawfare