Andrew Gabarino Questions Kristi Noem About CISA Reauthorization And Practices

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At Wednesday's House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Andrew Gabarino (R-NY) questioned DHS Sec. Kristi Noem.

Transcript

00:00With that, Chairman, I yield back.

00:02General Lee yields. Mr. Gabarino is recognized.

00:05Thank you, Chairman.

00:07Madam Secretary, thank you so much for being here today.

00:09I'm the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection,

00:13so I work with CISA a lot.

00:16I have a few quick questions for you.

00:18Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 provides a modern basis for information sharing

00:23between the private sector and the federal government.

00:25My subcommittee tomorrow will be having a hearing on CISA, the renewal of CISA 2015.

00:30Since it expires in September.

00:32I'm just wondering, do you support the reauthorization of CISA 2015 ahead of its expiration?

00:37Yes, I do, sir.

00:38It's an incredibly important piece of legislation.

00:40Wonderful. Thank you very much.

00:43Another hearing that we had this year, we dealt with the proposed CERCEA rulemaking process.

00:51And it started under the Biden administration.

00:53We heard from industry, they were not happy the way it went.

00:56I'm not happy with the way, I'm sure a lot of people aren't.

00:59I'm happy the way it went.

01:00And I still remain concerned that the scope of the proposed rules have strayed from Congressional's intent.

01:06One of the things that came up at our hearing was whether or not CISA would consider to provide an ex parte process

01:14so we could get more comments from industry and hopefully get this back on track

01:18instead of starting over from scratch because it has to be done.

01:21Is that something that the department would consider?

01:24Yes, we would support that, sir.

01:26I think that more input from the private sector is important to make sure we're doing the appropriate actions.

01:30I mean, information sharing and making sure that people are actually responding to incidents

01:34instead of talking to their attorneys, I think, is very, very important.

01:39And we want to make sure that this is the response rule, not just one of many other rules that are out there.

01:45I sent a letter back on February 19th regarding workforce reductions.

01:55It was about CISA staff that was fired and their responsibilities and titles.

02:00I have not yet received a response.

02:01And given the growing cybersecurity threat landscape and the administration's stated interest,

02:08which they have in addressing these threats, I'm concerned that reducing CISA's staff

02:13will not help CISA accomplish the mission of protecting cybersecurity,

02:21providing cybersecurity to the people that need it or helping.

02:23The letter asked for the number of staff, the responsibilities of those staff,

02:30and the impacts on CISA's ability to fulfill its mission.

02:33I know you can't provide that answer now, but can I get a commitment to get that response to that letter sometime soon?

02:41Absolutely.

02:42I appreciate that as well.

02:44And I know we're here about the budget, so I do want to ask some questions.

02:48In the administration's skinny budget request, it's seeking a $491 million reduction for CISA.

02:58I'm all on board with getting rid of disinformation and misinformation, and I was supportive of that cut,

03:03but that was in fiscal year 2023, that was only $20 million.

03:08Only $20 million of its budget went.

03:10So getting rid of that, that still leaves about $471 million of cuts,

03:16which was about a 17% cut to its total budget.

03:21What is, why such a large cut?

03:26And in addition to that, there was also, I believe, a program request moving $130 million around.

03:35What is that, what programs are going to be affected with that request?

03:39Well, Congressman, the focus within CISA needs to be on ensuring that it's fulfilling why it was created.

03:45It was created to support critical infrastructure and to make sure that we're out there addressing the cybersecurity concerns that we have.

03:53The reductions that you see are in the areas where it got off mission,

03:56where it was involved in missed, dis, and malinformation, and also the censorship activities.

04:02That's where the reflection is.

04:03But the cybersecurity side of CISA is strengthened and emboldened under President Trump's leadership

04:08and will-be into the future, and making sure that we're giving them the tools that they need to create new partnerships.

04:15Those plans to partner with private industries will make us much more efficient and accountable to taxpayers,

04:21while making sure that we actually have answers to some of the threats that we have in front of us.

04:25That's the thing that has alarmed me the most about CISA is the lack of information that they have,

04:33the lack of solutions that they have, and how they protect our critical infrastructure.

04:37And when you look at Volt Typhoon, it wasn't just that we're vulnerable.

04:40It's that the Chinese have proven, PRC has proven, with bad actors that they can shut down our water plants,

04:47our electrical grid, that they have the ability to do that.

04:50And if we think something in the past, like a pandemic or a crisis like that was scary,

04:56wait until people's electricity is gone or their water system shuts down.

05:01And so that is one of the reasons why CISA needs to be laser-focused on truly what its mission is.

05:07Yeah, I appreciate that, and I'm out of time, but I also just want to say I hope we can work together on this,

05:11and I'm very excited for Mr. Planky's nomination.

05:14I think he's going to do a great job, and hopefully they can confirm him sometime soon.

05:17But I'd like to talk to you more about the budget when we have a chance.

05:20Time has expired.

05:21Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask you now, Ms. Kim.

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