Cyber bipartisanship on the brink
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The resilient bipartisanship that has long protected cybersecurity issues in Washington is facing its biggest test in the second Trump administration.
Why it matters: Without guaranteed bipartisanship, the country's whole-of-government approach to both preventing hacks and fighting back is in jeopardy, experts say.
Driving the news: A long list of controversial moves in D.C. in the last few weeks is making it harder for Republicans and Democrats to publicly work together on cybersecurity issues.
- President Trump ordered a Department of Justice investigation into Chris Krebs, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director during Trump's first term, and revoked any of his remaining security clearances. Employees at SentinelOne, where Krebs currently works, also had their clearances suspended.
- CISA plans to make widespread staff cuts in the coming weeks after sending voluntary exit options to employees last week.
- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) placed a hold on Sean Plankey's nomination to run CISA until the agency releases a highly sought-after 2022 report detailing security weaknesses in the telecom industry.
- The Trump administration fired Gen. Timothy Haugh as head of the National Security Agency and Cyber Command with no explanation, spurring outrage and confusion on Capitol Hill.
The big picture: Rarely have partisan battles in cybersecurity clouded Washington's ability to pass new laws, get political nominees in office, or authorize budget requests.
- A big reason is that every lawmaker has a constituent who has likely faced a significant cyberattack in their community, whether it's at the local hospital, university or water plant.
- But since 2020 — when the question of whether the election was secure became a political minefield for Republicans — that's slowly been changing, Liana Keesing, a policy manager at bipartisan political reform group Issue One, told Axios.
- Since then, separating CISA's cybersecurity work from its efforts to fight foreign-backed election disinformation has been a tough needle to thread.
Between the lines: "There are a lot of Republicans who disagree vehemently with the actions the administration is taking on cyber," Keesing said. "But no one wants to be the first one to take up the mantle to say that."
Yes, but: Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, told The Record in an interview that the era of bipartisanship isn't over.
- "It's not an issue of an absence of bipartisanship," Green said, "it's no one wants to talk about it because they find it a political tool to say there isn't bipartisanship."
- Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), chair of the House Homeland Security cyber subcommittee, also said at an event this month that he was "not thrilled" about earlier firings at CISA.
What to watch: How lawmakers pursue reauthorization of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, a key law that expires this year and enables information sharing, will be the test of how resilient cyber's bipartisanship actually is.
- Lawmakers are likely to pursue the law's reauthorization in a manner "as under the radar as possible" to avoid garnering attention that could make it harder for Republicans to publicly support the measure, Keesing said.
Go deeper: Trump orders investigations into 2 DHS officials from his first term
