During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) spoke about cuts to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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00:00Senator King.
00:02I realize this isn't exactly in your lane, but it's certainly close.
00:07You talked in your prior answer about the work with the private sector
00:12and alerting them to the threats and to what was going on, and that's very important.
00:17But the principal agency that actually has performed that function as an interface
00:22between the federal government and the private sector was CISA, or is CISA.
00:27And my concern is that we've seen reports of cuts at CISA up to 90%.
00:32I believe 40% may be the latest number.
00:35And I think they've eliminated the office that interfaced with state election officials
00:40that enabled them to share threat data and information and protections
00:45with state election officials to keep our elections safe and secure.
00:50I just am puzzled at a time of heightened cyber threat that we're essentially unilaterally disarming
01:01one of the most important tools that we have to protect ourselves in cyberspace.
01:07Do you have any views on the dismantling of CISA?
01:11Senator King, thanks for the question.
01:14To be honest, I do not understand what the actual decisions are for any, you know,
01:23reduction or reorganization as it relates to CISA.
01:26You know, I will tell you that we continue to talk to CISA leadership,
01:29and we continue to share information with CISA leadership as it relates to threats
01:34that are relevant to their mission for defenses in the United States.
01:39Mr. Chairman, I realize that, again, this isn't his lane,
01:42but this subcommittee is dealing with the issue of cyber and CISA
01:46is one of our most important tools to deal with that,
01:49and they've been very effective.
01:51And having worked with some members of the private sector that have worked with CISA,
01:57it took years to build a trusting relationship between this government agency
02:03and these companies as well as the state election officials.
02:06I remember when that initiative first started,
02:09and the state election officials were very reluctant to interface with this federal agency,
02:15but they became very, I wouldn't say dependent,
02:18but they became very engaged with CISA in the last several elections,
02:22and to basically dismantle that capability I think is very dangerous for national security
02:31at a time of heightened cyberattack.
02:33We're under attack right now.
02:35And to be unilaterally disarming and disabling what amounts to a carrier fleet
02:42I think is very damaging to the security of the country. Thank you.
02:46I think your concern is noted, Senator.