John KatkoRep. John Katko (R-NY)
Rep. John Katko (R-NY) is Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. He is also a former federal prosecutor.
OPINION — It should not come as a surprise to anyone reading this article that we find ourselves in the wake of two significant cyber incidents. While we are still learning each day about the nature of the respective compromises, their causes, and how to best remediate, we now know enough to have a general idea of how to be more resilient going forward.
Some proposed fixes are readily and easily achievable. For example, while Acting CISA Director Brandon Wales has done a commendable job in difficult circumstances, permanent political leadership is urgently needed at the nation’s lead civilian cybersecurity agency. Other fixes will require more sustained policy engagement and evolution of our overarching cyber defense model. I’ve broken those down into the following five general pillars to help steer the national conversation:
First, we need to seriously rethink our fragmented approach to .gov security by centralizing authority with CISA wherever possible. While CISA’s federal hunt authority from the FY2021 NDAA…
