Rep. Mike Rogers Talks Cyber Security with Brighton Chamber

Threats to cyber security in the private business sector and U.S. financial network keep U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers up at night, he told members of the Brighton Chamber of Commerce Tuesday morning.

That's why Rogers has been working on a bill that will help protect against cyber threats. The bill will be announced this week and will provide the government with the authority to share classified cyber threat information on potential attacks with approved American companies.

Rogers said that foreign nations such as China and Russia are hacking into American companies' computer systems to steal information that is later used to compete against their products.

He referenced Dow Chemical and the new generation, healthier pesticide formula that was stolen in Indiana. He said the Chinese manufactured the pesticide and was competing against Dow Chemical with its own formula. These types of economic espionage steal away thousands of jobs, Rogers said.

"If we don't get a handle on this, I fear for economic future of this country," Rogers said. "There's a lot of reasons that I lay awake at night thinking about things that are going on in the Intelligence Committee - this is one of them. When you see just how staggering the theft - the official number that has come out is about $250 billion a year in loss of intellectual property."

He said the National Security Agency (NSA) believes the number to be closer to a trillion dollars because companies don't want to report that they have lost money and others don't even realize that it has happened.

Rogers said he would like to see companies like Comcast, ATT and Intel on board because they can stop the attacks easily.

"Right now, we're just hoping that it doesn't happen and that's a bad strategy," he said.

John Wentzel, from Lawrence Evans & Co. in Hartland, said he's thankful to have Rogers as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

"He's very knowledgeable and on top of his game," Wentzel said. "Thankfully, we have somebody who has a military and FBI background. So you're not dealing with your normal politician, you're dealing with somebody who has this country's security at heart because he has that experience in dealing with security and national defense."

Wentzel said he was very appreciative of Rogers discussing the cyber security bill with the chamber.

"It was refreshing to hear that he was doing something proactive," he said. "And it was nice to hear it here. It was important to hear it from him rather than reading about it in the paper. I felt kind of special. It was nice of him to tell us about it, here in his home constituency."