New class of lawmakers look to dig in on cybersecurity

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Mar 06, 2023 View in browser   By John Sakellariadis Presented by Darktrace With help from Maggie Miller  Driving the Day — New House members on the Homeland Security, Oversight and Armed Services Committees are hoping to shore up the nation against cyber threats. HAPPY MONDAY, and welcome to Morning Cybersecurity! Since I’m not a big fan of zombie shows, I was expecting my appetite for the “Last of Us” would fade rather quickly. But my love for the show just won’t die. Ha! Got tips, feedback or other commentary? Send them my way at jsakellariadis@politico.com. You can also follow @POLITICOPro and @MorningCybersec on Twitter. Full team contact info is below.   A message from Darktrace: Ignorance Isn't Bliss. It's A Liability. Darktrace PREVENT reveals 30-50% more vulnerable assets than previously known. Learn more   Today's Agenda Acting national cyber director Kemba Walden speaks at the Internet Education Foundation’s State of the Net Conference. Conference begins at 9 a.m. Walden speaks at 4:20 p.m. On the Hill NEW CYBER LAWMAKERS ASSEMBLE — Freshman members of several key House committees are aiming to point a renewed focus at cyber threats facing the nation into the 118th Congress, Maggie writes in a new story out (for Pros!) today. Among the more than 80 new members of the House and Senate are some who have past experience in the cybersecurity space, and have been placed on key subcommittees as a result. They laid out some of their priorities in interviews with POLITICO, including securing elections ahead of the 2024 presidential race, shoring up the security of critical utilities against cyber threats from nations including Russia and China, and improving oversight of federal agencies key to the cyber mission. — On the home front: The House Homeland Security Committee is chock full of new members with a background in cyber. These include Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), the former Florida secretary of state, who says cybersecurity was the “No. 1” issue that took up her time in that role, specifically in regards to securing elections. “One of our key responsibilities is ensuring the public understands the threat we face from cyber actors and what our elected officials are doing to keep their voting experience kept secure,” Lee, a new member of the committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, said in an interview. Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.) — another of the new Republican lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee’s cyber subcommittee — says his main priority is “ensuring our critical infrastructure has the necessary protection to respond to cyberattacks from foreign adversaries,” and ensuring CISA is adequately resourced. — On the other side: Freshman Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee are also keen to focus on cyber threats. Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) is a member of the cyber subcommittee and the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, succeeding former Rep. Jim Langevin. “This is a committee that my predecessor from my district served on for many years, and he was a real leader on cybersecurity,” Magaziner said of Langevin. “I certainly feel a responsibility to follow in his footsteps in that regard.” Another freshman member new to House Homeland is Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), who says he hopes the committee is able to focus on cybersecurity priorities like oversight of CISA, threats from Russia and China, and securing elections alongside the border and immigration priorities the Republican committee leadership will pursue. Ivey advocated for the idea of pursuing annual internal cybersecurity assessments from agencies like CISA, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Government Accountability Office in order to measure “whether additional cybersecurity measures are appropriate and needed.” — On other committees: In another part of the House, new Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) is looking to take action to secure federal networks against cyber threats as part of his role on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s newly reestablished cyber subcommittee. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), the only freshman Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee’s cyber subcommittee, is the former policy director at the University of Pittsburgh’s Pitt Cyber. He is planning to bring his experience in that position, such as protecting critical infrastructure from cyber threats, to his new role. “Our adversaries are already investing heavily in cyber as a key element of the next field of battle,” Deluzio said, stressing the need to secure privately owned critical infrastructure. “If we don’t, we risk leaving too many Americans vulnerable, online and otherwise, and would leave our military ill-prepared to confront threats from our foes in a future conflict.”   We’re spilling the tea (and drinking tons of it in our newsroom) in U.K. politics with our latest newsletter, London Playbook PM. Get to know all the movers and shakers in Westminster and never miss a beat of British politics with a free subscription. Don’t miss out, we’ve got some exciting moves coming. Sign up today.     Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories. At the Agencies BUSY WEEK OF CYBER HEARINGS — Between the Senate and House renditions of the annual global threat briefing and three further cyber-adjacent hearings, 1s and 0s are set to come up early and often on the Hill this week. Double-dip with the intel chiefs — On Wednesday and Thursday, the country’s five top intelligence officials will appear before the Senate and House intelligence panels to discuss the biggest security threats to the U.S. The hearings will follow the now-imminent release of an ODNI-authored report on the same topic, known as the Annual Threat Assessment, which includes joint intelligence community findings on everything from cybersecurity to weapons proliferation. To help make sense of the document, lawmakers in both chambers will receive testimony from FBI Director Chris Wray, CIA Director Bill Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier and dual-hatted NSA-Cyber Command Gen. Paul Nakasone. Nakasone, D.C.’s most sought after man — In addition to two hearings before the intelligence panel, Gen. Paul Nakasone will appear Tuesday at a Senate Armed Services committee hearing to check in on the vim and vigor of the U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Cyber Command. Expect Nakasone to field questions about the training, quality and retention of the country’s keyboard warriors — a constant bugaboo for the Command, which faces stiff competition for talent with the private sector and can only rent its personnel short-term from the services. Two more for the road — On Thursday, the House Homeland Security Committee will host a hearing (yes, another) on the threats that the Chinese Communist Party poses to the homeland, where TikTok, IP theft and online influence are sure to surface. Finally, the House Armed Services Committee’s cyber subcommittee will bring in the Pentagon’s chief information and chief digital and artificial intelligence officers to talk about AI, IT and how to protect Defense Department networks.   A message from Darktrace:   Surveillance WINDS OF REFORM — This afternoon, a board member on an influential executive branch advisory panel is set to outline possible fixes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, yet another sign that the White House faces an uphill battle in its effort to secure a reform-free renewal of the controversial electronic surveillance program. Why that matters — When he speaks at today’s State of the Net Conference, Travis LeBlanc will become the first of five board members on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight board to make public his views on Section 702, which is set to sunset at year’s end. The P-What? — The independent, bipartisan board acts as a privacy and civil liberties watchdog for the executive branch. Later this spring, the full board will release a review of Section 702, its first since 2014, that is expected to shape the debate around the necessity for and nature of possible reforms. Hint of what LeBlanc is eyeing? — At a PCLOB public forum on 702 last month, LeBlanc asked whether Congress should obtain a FISA order or warrant before conducting searches on Americans. Since then, so-called “backdoor searches” — in which FBI officials query 702 data for information on Americans that is collected “incidentally” through foreign surveillance — has drawn growing attention among skeptics of the program. Agree to disagree — Last week, DNI Director Haines and Attorney General Merrick Garland sent a letter to Congressional leadership arguing that 702 should be renewed as is. The same morning, Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen contended that many of the perceived privacy abuses of the program — the queries involving Americans — actually stem from FBI cybercrime investigations, where the bureau is seeking assistance for possible victims. “Without Section 702,” he said, “we simply don’t have a means to collect that information, certainly not at the speed of a cyberattack.” Not enough — Thus far, those pleas are falling on deaf ears, with Congressional Republicans quickly pooh poohing the idea of a clean reauthorization, as POLITICO reported last week. One stumbling block for the administration? Still smarting from the Carter Page investigation, Congressional Republicans are adamant about reforming other sections of FISA, too. While the FISA statutes relevant to the Page case are not set to expire this year, the GOP looks keen to leverage the 702 sunset to secure changes elsewhere in the statute.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     Tweet of the Day CISA appears to be taking a page out of cyber meme king Rob Joyce: Twitter Quick Bytes — FBI searches for Americans’ data in 702 databases said to drop following compliance fixes. (New York Times) — EPA’s new cybersecurity mandates worry industry and cyber experts. (CyberScoop) — Ukraine has fended off a “year of wipers” from Russia. (The Record) — A state-led effort to combat voter fraud is running into a major obstacle: election conspiracy theories. (AP News) — Meet the investigator tackling Greece’s spy scandal. (POLITICO) Chat soon.  Stay in touch with the whole team: Maggie Miller (mmiller@politico.com); John Sakellariadis (jsakellariadis@politico.com); and Heidi Vogt (hvogt@politico.com). ~~~~~   A message from Darktrace: Ignorance Isn't Bliss. It's A Liability. Darktrace PREVENT reveals 30-50% more vulnerable assets than previously known. Learn more     Follow us on Twitter Heidi Vogt @HeidiVogt Maggie Miller @magmill95 John Sakellariadis @johnnysaks130   Follow us

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