Hatch Applauds President Trump’s Executive Order on Cybersecurity
Washington, D.C.—Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s Executive Order on Cybersecurity:
“President Trump’s Executive Order is an important step in modernizing and improving federal cybersecurity policies and protocols,” Hatch said. “For several years, I have been very concerned about the state of our federal government’s cybersecurity and computer systems. Last Congress, in response to large-scale breaches of sensitive and classified information, I authored S. 1990 the Federal Computer Security Act—which was ultimately passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. The President’s Cybersecurity Executive Order mirrors the intent of my legislation, which was to require federal agencies to be accountable and proactive about securing critical infrastructure and computer systems from cyberattacks.”
Senator Hatch’s Press Release on S. 1990, the Federal Computer Security Act from August 5, 2015, can be found here.
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Bipartisan, Bicameral Rapid DNA Bill Passes in the Senate Judiciary Committee
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the bipartisan, bicameral Rapid DNA Act—which was authored and introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)—passed unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Hatch’s bill would establish a system to enable law enforcement officials to use Rapid DNA instruments to help reduce DNA backlogs. Unlike traditional DNA analysis, which can take weeks or even months, Rapid DNA analysis can process DNA results in approximately 90 minutes or less.
Law enforcement experts believe that this technology has the potential to revolutionize the way in which individuals arrested for crimes are enrolled in the criminal justice system by expediting the exoneration of innocent suspects and dramatically reducing the time required for suspects’ DNA to be linked to unsolved crimes.
The Rapid DNA Act will give law enforcement officials a new system that meets FBI quality assurance standards to compare DNA samples collected at the time of an arrest to profiles in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS.)
When then-Director James Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee just last week, he said Hatch’s Rapid DNA bill would “materially advance the safety of the American people.” He added, “it will save lives, protect all kinds of people from pain, and I think it’s a great thing.”
This bill—which was also approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and passed by the Senate in the previous Congress—has strong backing from the law enforcement community, prosecutors, and forensic scientists, as well as from victims’ rights groups.
Today, Senator Hatch issued a statement in the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the bill:
Under current law, all DNA samples are required to be sent to an accredited crime lab for processing. As a result there are massive DNA backlogs across the country, and it can take weeks or even months to obtain results from simple DNA tests. In recent years, there have been huge advancements in DNA technology, which have succeeded at speeding up the timetable for DNA analysis. Using Rapid DNA technology, law enforcement, using a minimally invasive cheek swab, can compare DNA results against existing database profiles within 2 hours.
This bill will help law enforcement agencies solve crimes faster and help those wrongfully accused to be exonerated from crimes they did not commit—almost instantly. The Rapid DNA Act updates the statutory framework in how DNA samples are entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System by allowing the use of this remarkable Rapid DNA technology.
I encourage my colleagues to vote in support of this commonsense legislation.
The legislation has strong support from across the law enforcement community, including the National Fraternal Order of Police, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major City Chiefs Association, National Association of Police Organizations, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and National District Attorneys Association, as well as the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations.
The following organizations have sent letters of support for Hatch’s Rapid DNA Act of 2015 and Rapid DNA Act of 2017:
· Peace Officers Research Association of California
· National District Attorneys Association
· National Association of Police Organizations
· Major Cities Chiefs Association
· International Association of Chiefs of Police
· National Fraternal Order of Police
· Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations
· Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
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