'Just Be Honest About It': Elissa Slotkin Lays Into Trump Cyber Nom, Warns Cuts Could Lead To 'Cyber 9/11'

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During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) questioned Sean Cairncross, President Trump's nominee to be National Cyber Director, about cuts to cybersecurity programs, and threats facing the United States.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Chairman, and thank you for your intervention after Senator Hassan.

00:07Welcome to all of you. I did a confirmation hearing like this many, many, many moons ago,

00:11a group one, and I was the only one who got questions. So for those of you who are getting

00:15less questions, you're getting off really easy, and you should thank your fellow peers here on

00:20the dais afterwards. Let me start on cybersecurity. You know, as a former CIA officer, I feel like

00:29we all know that cyber attacks are increasing. In your own words, attacks are increasing. They're

00:35becoming more sophisticated. They're becoming more prevalent. And then with the use of AI,

00:41they're becoming much more smart, much more capable. But if you are confirmed, you will oversee the

00:47single biggest cut in cybersecurity dollars, a $495 million cut to cybersecurity. And I know that

00:55the president has it out for certain members of the cybersecurity community of his own administration

01:00from the first time. But the truth is, you're cutting programs that help our state and locals,

01:05like the state of Michigan, actually defend against these things. Our infrastructure, it's really my

01:10power companies who have come to me and said, we used to get quarterly updates from CISA and get a

01:15sense of like the threat picture across the country. Now we don't have that. We feel vulnerable.

01:20I really feel like the United States is in a situation with cyber the way we were with terrorism

01:26before 9-11. Terrorism attacks were happening. Some people watched them, but they really didn't enter

01:32in a huge way the American consciousness until we had a spectacular attack. And I am deeply worried that

01:40we're going to have a spectacular cyber attack. And you're going to be left holding the bag. I mean,

01:45you're here. They pulled the nomination of the other guy on cyber from this panel. You're the head

01:50guy. So help me understand, in honestly, in a way that speaks to the average person who's like a

01:57principal of a K-12 school whose kid's data is being ransomed. How can you justify a nearly $500 million

02:07cut on cybersecurity given what you yourself just said?

02:10Well, Senator, I think to your point, the vast majority of cyber defense in this country falls

02:17on the private sector. And so one of the key elements that I see...

02:21Not my K-12 schools, not my public hospitals, not the utilities.

02:27And state and local, territorial and tribal are extremely important, as we were chatting about

02:33earlier.

02:34And that's what affects the average American, right? That's what they all know. We have a cyber attack

02:38once every 39 seconds in America. So everyone in this room has had someone try to get their data.

02:44Senator, the University of Michigan, the health care system, schools in your state alone, I mean,

02:49the members of this panel have had tens of millions, hundreds of millions. Florida, I think,

02:54is over a billion dollars.

02:55So explain a cut. I mean, just be honest about it. You can't say you care about an increasing and

03:00more sophisticated set of attacks while cutting the very people who help defend against those attacks.

03:05And I want to do offensive cyber. I want to make them feel pain for the Russians and the Chinese

03:10that are launching these attacks. I'm there with you. I will add money there. But you can't add by

03:15subtracting. And I think we just have to own that, that the petty desires of the president are going

03:21to leave us more vulnerable. And you're going to be the guy, if we have our cyber 9-11, you're going

03:26to be the guy who's sitting there saying, oh, holy crap, we just cut all this money. And I just had

03:32all the power go out on the eastern seaboard. Or the Chinese stole a whole bunch of our personal

03:36data from every hospital and every school. So I just, let's not pretend that a cut actually helps

03:43defend against what you agree is an increasing set of attacks. I just want to ask in my short

03:48time, I'll leave you alone. I know I'll move to the next guy.

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