GOP Rep. Bacon: We've Gotten Weaker on Cyber Due to Cuts, Lack of Agency Leaders

On Friday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) stated that due to cuts to CISA and a lack of permanent leadership at the agency at Cyber Command, “our abilities have been diminished over the last year. That’s negligence. That’s unacceptable as an American.”

While talking about that week’s hearing with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Bacon said, “I would push her on a couple of areas: One is CISA. So, right now, we’ve been downgraded in our cyber defenses by people who have evaluated how we’re doing. So, you look at Cyber Command, that’s our military arm of cyber, we’ve not had a commander there for nine months, roughly, because the administration fired the most — I would say the most effective, the most knowledgeable man we had on cyber because some crazy lady coming into the White House [Laura Loomer]…wanted him fired.”

He added, “Tim Haugh was the most prepared guy we had. He was the right person to be leading Cyber Command. They fired him 8.5 months ago, they have not been able to find a replacement. This is a command that we’re fighting every day in cyberspace. Russia and China are attacking us every day. So, we have this inertia right now going on in this four-star headquarters that runs our cyber. On top of that, the Homeland Security, they run CISA, which is the organization that helps our private businesses, our infrastructure, our energy grid defend against cyberattacks, and they have cut it significantly and it’s also rudderless. And so, you take these two things combined, and folks who study cyber have downgraded our — they said that our abilities have been diminished over the last year. That’s negligence. That’s unacceptable as an American.”

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