Excerpt
The Trump administration’s cuts in cyber programs are putting national security at risk.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem defended such cuts in her confirmation hearing, saying that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency needed to be “smaller, more nimble to really fulfill their mission.” She is mistaken.
Over the past three weeks, the agency has reduced staff, slashed budgets and terminated programs, with the administration suggesting that these cuts will “eliminate redundancies” and focus its work on “mission critical areas.” However, the cuts, imposed by the Department of Homeland Security, are in fact undercutting the agency’s core mission areas, weakening U.S. national resilience and casting doubt on America’s ability to repel, thwart and deter attacks in cyberspace.
Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery is a senior director at theCenter on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, whereJohanna “Jo” Yang is a research and editorial associate.