Monday, January 6, 2025

The cyber succession flare-up

Delivered every Monday by 10 a.m., Weekly Cybersecurity examines the latest news in cybersecurity policy and politics.
Jan 06, 2025 View in browser
 
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By John Sakellariadis

With help from Maggie Miller

Driving The Day

— The Biden administration has a new road map to smooth the transfer of power in the ONCD. It’s small peas on paper — but some Trump allies are crying foul on it and other aspects of the transition.

HAPPY MONDAY, and welcome to MORNING CYBERSECURITY! The most underrated show of 2024?

“Say Nothing.” I finally watched it during the break, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

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Today's Agenda

The House votes to certify the 2024 presidential election.

At the White House

NEXT IN LINE — A recent White House order to codify succession plans atop the Office of the National Cyber Director is raising hackles in Trump world, with allies of the president-elect alleging it’s a bid to undermine his agenda — and ONCD supporters countering it’s little more than bureaucratic housecleaning.

What happened: Late Friday, the Biden administration unveiled a flurry of executive orders that revised or — as in the ONCD’s case — created rules surrounding the “order of succession” at key offices and federal agencies.

For the ONCD, the little-noticed White House edict stipulated the six office positions that are in line to act as temporary cyber czar “during any period in which the director has died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to perform the functions and duties of the office.”

What the critics are saying: In an interview, Ezra Cohen, an outspoken Trump ally who held multiple national security roles in his first administration, said the order would undercut the Trump administration’s ability to quickly redirect the ONCD to its agenda.

Though it’s technically true that Trump can scrap the EO whenever he wants, or install a new deputy of his choosing, Cohen said it can take time to tee up the necessary paperwork or command the president’s attention during a busy changeover. He also questioned why the White House would unveil it so late in the administration.

The Biden administration’s real purpose is “to make the people it wants to stay on, stay on longer,” Cohen alleged, echoing a series of tweets he issued Friday.

— Mountain out of a molehill? The Office of the National Cyber Director did not reply to a request for comment. But one of the drivers of the legislation to stand up the office, Mark Montgomery, said the EO has been in the works for six months and is not about Trump.

Montgomery pointed out that all but one of the positions in the ONCD’s new line of succession are held by Biden appointees, who are all but sure to resign. He said that means the order is really about clarifying that the one outlier — Deborah Grays, a 30-year Army veteran, who is now the assistant national cyber director for resource management and administration — will helm the office come Jan. 20. Grays’ position is technically 5th in the EO’s succession lineup.

The EO, the office’s first such succession plan, “won’t do anything to constrict the Trump administration,” argued Montgomery.

— The other sore spot: Another former senior Trump official, Joshua Steinman, commented approvingly on Cohen’s post on X, and on Sunday unfurled his own broadside — this time directed at the Trump end of the transition.

In it, the former senior NSC official lashed out at the transition team for allegedly telling some staffers on Biden’s NSC they can remain. He also warned that more senior NSC staff — including the White House’s current top cyber official, Anne Neuberger — are “angling” to stay.

Steinman, who did not reply to a request for comment, said allowing many holdovers would have a “cascading and catastrophic effect” detrimental to Trump’s agenda. Spokespeople for the Biden NSC declined to comment on Steinman’s claims, and MC could not independently verify their veracity.

— Tip of the iceberg or out on an island: Asked both about Cohen and Steinman’s comments, Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Trump transition, offered MC a cryptic response that could cut in different directions: “No one on President Trump’s NSC staff will be anything but supportive of the President’s agenda,” he wrote.

Still, it’s clear the allegations are resonating among the Trump base. Cohen made an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” this weekend (though the interview focused largely on new succession directives for other parts of the administration), while Steinman’s post racked up more than 2 million views as of Sunday evening.

At the Agencies

FCC TO DIVE INTO CYBER — The Federal Communications Commission may be pivoting into looking more closely at cybersecurity issues in the upcoming Trump administration, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington told Maggie on Friday.

Simington, who was nominated to the role by President-elect Donald Trump, made the case for “ongoing consultations with other agencies” about cybersecurity concerns, such as how to respond to the ongoing hack of U.S. telecom systems by Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel last month announced new proposed rules to step up the cybersecurity of the telecoms sector, but Simington had other ideas.

“The right answer is probably for us to develop a joint program with other agencies, including the law enforcement agencies, that can be an appropriate response,” the commissioner said on efforts to combat Salt Typhoon, stressing the need to move quickly and not pursue mandates that go into effect over several years.

“I would appreciate a much greater urgency about this, and I’m sure that’s what we’ll see in the upcoming administration,” Simington said.

— Elsewhere: The commissioner also teased an upcoming cybersecurity executive order that President Biden will sign this week, noting that it will include a mandate that federal agencies buy internet-connected equipment with a Cyber Trust Mark label by 2027. The label, backed by the FCC, helps consumers buy products built to certain cybersecurity standards.

On cyber in general, Simington promised that this will be an “active, active area of concern” at the FCC, particularly regarding satellites and broadband issues.

— Job prospects: The FCC commissioner was confirmed to the position in late 2020, but his five-year term was backdated to 2019, meaning it expired last summer, though he is set to stay in office until early 2026 unless replaced. POLITICO’s John Hendel reported last year that Simington was seeking reconfirmation to the term, something Simington danced around last week.

“At this point, my position is currently filled, and I don’t expect replacing me to be an immediate priority,” Simington said. “Conversations about the future are something that will at some point take place with the presidential transition team, I just don’t think anyone is to that point yet.”

But, he added, “if the president asks you to do something, it’s hard to say no.”

On the Hill

NEW SENATE MUSCLE — The Democratic roster of a flagship Senate cyber committee is getting an influx of new talent in the next Congress.

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced late last week that three Senate newcomers with strong cyber policy chops in the lower chamber — Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) — will join the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the 119th Congress.

— What’s at stake: HSGAC holds jurisdiction over DHS, which houses the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; handles confirmations for flagship cyber posts, such as CISA director and the national cyber director; and has historically helped spearhead the most consequential cybersecurity legislation.

The cybersecurity expertise among the new Democratic appointees is particularly noteworthy given that the incoming Republican chair, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), is a vocal critic of CISA, and has not historically taken keen interest in digital security.

— The credentials: A former CIA analyst, Slotkin led the bipartisan cybersecurity caucus while in the House, and has served on relevant subcommittees in the House Armed Services and Homeland Security panels.

Kim, a former adviser at the State Department, served alongside Slotkin in the last Congress on the Armed Services subcommittee. He and Gallego, a former Marine, have routinely spoken about cybersecurity issues, penning letters and signing onto legislation about digital holes in America’s health care and water systems.

Spokespeople for Slotkin, Gallego and Kim did not reply to requests for comment about their agenda in the next Congress.

— Who’s out: The newbies are replacing Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who will assume new committee assignments for the next two years, and departing Sens. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.). Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who did not previously serve on HSGAC, will also slot into a new assignment on the panel.

Industry Intel

TENABLE CEO PASSES AWAY — Tenable CEO and former DHS cybersecurity pioneer Amit Yoran died over the weekend, following a battle with cancer.

Yoran, 54, founded cybersecurity start-up Riptech before becoming the first director of the National Cyber Security Division at the then-newly created Department of Homeland Security. He later served in senior roles at In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed venture capital fund, and security giant RSA before joining Tenable in 2016.

— Rest in peace: Yoran took a medical leave of absence in early December, Tenable said in a press release Sunday. Still, his death took many in the cybersecurity community by surprise, eliciting an outpouring of grief and support on social media.

“Nobody has had that kind of success and impact across government and the private sector,” said Bryan Ware, a former senior cybersecurity official at CISA and a colleague of Yoran’s. “From calling out Microsoft’s bad security practices to just last week calling out the FBI’s attempts to weaken encryption, Amit was always the champion for what was best for security.”

Tweet of the Day

A hilarious cyber take on an otherwise fascinating bit of investigative reporting from ProPublica:

Source: X

X

Long Reads

The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have a pair of fantastic stories about the latest Chinese hacking efforts inside the U.S.

Chat soon.

Stay in touch with the whole team: John Sakellariadis (jsakellariadis@politico.com); Maggie Miller (mmiller@politico.com); and Rosie Perper (rperper@politico.com). 

 

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Heidi Vogt @HeidiVogt

Maggie Miller @magmill95

John Sakellariadis @johnnysaks130

Joseph Gedeon @JGedeon1

 

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