Twenty-two advocacy groups penned a June 28 letter urging lawmakers to increase funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The advocacy groups represent "nearly every sector throughout the U.S. economy," according to the letter, including health IT organizations like College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security and The App Association.
For fiscal year 2018, the administration has proposed a budget calling for $237.2 million in NIST funding cuts, a 25 percent decrease from 2017. "Especially troubling, $88.7 million of the overall reduction would come from NIST's Scientific and Technical Research and Services account," the groups write.
Industry and government sectors use resources from the STRS account to strengthen their cybersecurity practices. For example, organizations have implemented standards from NIST's voluntary Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, which the groups call a "remarkable success."
"Instead of cutting NIST's resources, we believe that Congress should boost the agency's funding given the critical tasks it undertakes with the private sector on cybersecurity, such as protecting the Internet of Things," reads the letter.
Click here to view the full letter.
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