The leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have pressed the heads of five federal agencies for information on their cybersecurity priorities as mandated in an executive order signed by President Trump.
The panel’s chairman and ranking member asked the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Commerce and Homeland Security for copies of their their respective reports on cybersecurity Wednesday more than two months after they were due at the White House.
The reports, as mandated by Mr. Trump’s May 11 executive order, required the agency to submit assessments of their “international cybersecurity priorities, including those concerning investigation, attribution, cyber threat information sharing, response, capacity building and cooperation” by June 23.
“Cyberattacks are a real and growing threat,” the panel’s chairman, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said in a statement. “Obtaining these reports will be helpful as the committee continues its oversight to improve America’s national and cybersecurity.”
“We’re in a new era where cyberattacks from our enemies could devastate our country in ways ranging from hacking government computers to access our nation’s secrets to shutting down our electrical systems,” added the committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. “I was glad to see President Trump’s Executive Order to strengthen our country’s cybersecurity, and I look forward to hearing from key agencies about their plans to work with our international partners to protect against and respond to cyberattacks.”
The senators have requested the reports so their panel can better oversee the “effectiveness of present national security methods, staffing and processes as tested against the requirements imposed by the rapidly mounting complexity of national security problems,” according to a copy of their request, FCW reported.
Another member of the Senate panel, meanwhile, raised concerns last week about the Trump administration’s own cybersecurity stature.
“Unfortunately, leadership from the executive branch on cybersecurity has been weak. As America’s enemies seized the initiative in cyberspace, the last administration offered no serious cyber deterrence policy and strategy,” Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said at a cybersecurity conference last week.
“And while the current administration promised a cyber policy within 90 days of inauguration, we still have not seen a plan.”
Indeed, Mr. Trump promised while campaigning to task a team of experts with drafting a cybersecurity report to be released within 90 days of office but has failed to follow through. In the study’s place he signed the May 11 mandate ordering federal agencies to assess their own systems and report back.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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