Lawmakers press for $237 million to fully fund cybersecurity program

Three lawmakers are pressing House appropriators to fully fund a key cybersecurity program at the Department of Homeland Security in funding legislation for the next fiscal year. 

The program, called the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, is part of the department’s broader effort to keep federal networks secure from cyberattacks.

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Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) wrote to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday asking that $237 million be allotted for the CDM program in the fiscal year 2019 appropriations legislation. 

The request is on par with the $237.6 million proposed by the Trump administration in its 2019 budget blueprint for Homeland Security.

“The CDM program is of paramount importance because of its ability to provide the federal enterprise with the ability to monitor and assess the vulnerabilities and threats to its networks and systems in an ever-changing cyber threat landscape,” the lawmakers, who are on the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote.

The Homeland Security Department launched the CDM program back in 2012 in order to better guard federal .gov networks against cyber threats. The department broke down the program into four different phases, the first of which focused on managing what software is on federal networks and identifying vulnerabilities. 

In February, the federal government awarded a $621 million, six-year contract to Booz Allen Hamilton to begin implementing the next three phases of the CDM program.