FBI official on panel for Senate Commerce cybersecurity hearing

The Senate Commerce Committee released the witness list for its March 29 hearing on cybersecurity; the panel features experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IBM and Verizon.

Senate Commerce chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced a comprehensive cybersecurity bill last year with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that would have put the Commerce Department's National Institute for Standards and Technology in charge of creating federal cybersecurity standards for private-sector firms deemed crucial to the nation's physical and economic security.

However, that bill ran into opposition from the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which views the Department of Homeland Security as the best agency to lead on civilian cybersecurity. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been unable to settle the standoff between the two sides.

The hearing will take place Tuesday at 2:30pm in Russell Senate office building. The full witness list:

Gordon Snow, assistant director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division

Harriet Pearson, vice president security counsel, Chief Privacy Officer, IBM

Sara Santarelli, chief network security officer, Verizon

Thomas Kellermann, vice president of security awareness, Core Security Technologies; Adjunct Instructor, American University