'The Administration Is Not Off To A Great Start With Its Own Cybersecurity Practices': Magaziner

2 days ago

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) questioned witnesses about cybersecurity grants, and took a swipe at the Trump Administration over the leaked Signal group chat of top national security officials.

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Transcript

00:00I recognize the gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Magaziner, for five minutes of questions.

00:04Thank you, Chairman. The state and local cybersecurity grant program is an essential

00:09resource to help states and municipalities protect themselves against cyber attacks. This grant

00:15program helps secure critical infrastructure like schools, hospitals, electric grids,

00:21water systems. And in my home state of Rhode Island, it has been instrumental in providing

00:27cybersecurity training, for example, for staff at state agencies and municipalities so they can

00:32better protect taxpayer data, securing schools and academic institutions from ransomware attacks,

00:38and protecting critical infrastructure from being infiltrated by hackers.

00:43I am concerned by reports of potential delays and cuts to these grants by the Trump and Musk

00:49administration, and I'm glad to see that, at least on this subcommittee, there appears to

00:53be bipartisan support for continuing the program in a robust form. But you would forgive us for

00:59being concerned, because in addition to the reports of delays, we have heard that the Trump

01:06and Musk administration has been firing staff at CISA and at FEMA, the two agencies responsible for

01:13administering this program. And we have also heard from Secretary Noem herself that she plans to,

01:20quote, eliminate FEMA and significantly shrink CISA. She said that in her Senate confirmation

01:27hearing. This would be a tremendous mistake. The threat that we face from foreign malign actors,

01:36from criminal organizations, to critical infrastructure, to cybersecurity,

01:41to our cybersecurity, are immense. The Chinese are working overtime, putting tens of thousands

01:46of people toward trying to infiltrate every system, even in the smallest towns in this country.

01:51Same with the Russians, same with the Iranians, the North Koreans, and of course, criminal cyber

01:56gangs as well. We've had significant breaches in Rhode Island as a result. This is not the time

02:02to take our foot off the gas, as the Secretary said was her intention during her Senate confirmation

02:09hearing. And unfortunately, this is part of a pattern, because when she was governor of North

02:13Dakota, Secretary Noem was one of only two governors in the entire country to refuse to accept

02:19state cybersecurity grants in 2022. Her administration called them, quote, wasteful spending.

02:25In 2023, yet again, she was now the only governor in the entire country to refuse these grants for

02:32her home state. And of course, we have seen that the administration is not off to a great start

02:38with its own cybersecurity practices, with service members' lives being put at risk from

02:47confidential information being discussed in an unsecured group chat, and of course, Elon Musk's

02:53army of unvetted interns going through everybody's personal data with very little transparency. But

03:01given that backdrop, it is more important than ever that Congress send the message that

03:07cybersecurity still matters to us, that we do not consider it to be wasteful spending,

03:12and particularly we want to continue to support states, municipalities,

03:18utilities in our home states with this program. So I have limited time, but Mr. Fuller, can you

03:26elaborate on any reports of delays, cuts or pauses to this program?

03:33What have you seen so far, and what would the negative consequences be?

03:38Thank you, and I appreciate your point that there's a lot of bipartisan support for this

03:42program to continue. Certainly the risk doesn't take politics into account. One of the concerns

03:49we have about the program is some of our states chose not to participate because they were afraid

03:55that the funding would not continue on, and they were afraid to launch a program that might then

03:59get cut, and that created some hesitation for some states. For us, we're all in with the program,

04:06and it has been extremely beneficial. I mentioned in my testimony we've blocked seven

04:10major attacks in the last six months alone, and so we would hope that the funding could

04:19be extended by Congress without delays. Those delays could cause serious problems in adoption

04:24of the program. Thank you, and Mr. Raymond, if FEMA is eliminated and CISA is significantly cut,

04:31as Secretary Noem has promised, what impact would that have on the ability of your state and others

04:39to maintain strong cybersecurity and take advantage of programs like this one?

04:44I do believe that FEMA and our emergency management in Connecticut, along with CISA

04:50on the security side, have been great partners with us on this cyber battle.

04:56State and local governments are not prepared to fight this kind of cyber engagement with

05:04foreign nations. I would say in combination with the reductions to MS-ISAC and CISA support,

05:14additional responsibilities are falling on the states to fight these battles. Should further

05:21reductions, or FEMA reductions for that matter, be put in place, I would say it would diminish

05:28our ability to help the municipalities that are part of our jurisdiction and defend on behalf of

05:34the state. All right, thank you. I'm over time, so I'll yield back. The gentleman yields back.

'The Administration Is Not Off To A Great Start With Its Own Cybersecurity Practices': Magaziner

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