Sen. King, Rep. Gallagher Seek President-Appointed Cyber Dir., Citing Virus

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., urge President Donald Trump to appoint a national cyber director. Monday, they said COVID-19 has highlighted the federal government’s lack of cyber structure (see 2003110076). They co-chair the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which recommended creating a national cyber director with oversight from new congressional cybersecurity committees. The position would be president-appointed and Senate-confirmed.

During a New America event, King cited “strong support” for the idea from Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Gallagher also discussed the “strange” Republican bedfellows supporting the recommendation: “There’s no clear ideological or partisan fault lines a lot of the time.”

“There needs to be someone overseeing the crazy quilt of cyber activities throughout the federal government and involving the federal government and the private sector,” King said. “Messy organization produces messy policy, and right now, there’s no central, driving force.”

King said the White House is resisting the idea, claiming the national security advisor isn’t in favor because it would mean yielding authority. The White House didn’t comment.

There’s a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for further discussions with Senate Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and the administration, King said: “We’re still working on it.”

The pandemic is a wake-up call about the risks of technological interconnectedness and the need to plan ahead, King said, arguing COVID-19 expanded the list of cyber targets. The pandemic reinforced recommendations on federal government organization, Gallagher said. It also highlighted the value of secure IoT, he added. A Cyberspace Solarium recommendation is for an IoT security law focused on known challenges like the insecurity of Wi-Fi routers. The legislator supports security measures such as those the National Institute of Standards and Technology is outlining in its recommendations for IoT device manufacturers (see 1910020054).

The federal government isn’t the lead on cybersecurity, but it supports industry, Gallagher said. He encouraged empowering the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which he said is the central hub for enabling private-public partnership. King noted 85% of the target space in cyber is in the private sector.

“We very much do not want to take a prescriptive, top-down, heavy government mandate approach,” Gallagher said. “We want the market to work, but we do believe the federal government needs to create incentives in this space and certainly when it comes to cloud security and IoT.”