Senators express concern over Trump’s decision to scrap top cyber post

A bipartisan pair of senators wrote to President Trump this week to express concern over his decision to eliminate a top cybersecurity position at the White House. 

The letter, sent Thursday by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), represents the first instance of a Republican casting doubts publicly about the decision.

{mosads}

“We write today to express our concern regarding the decision to eliminate the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator position in the National Security Council,” wrote Collins and Heinrich, both of whom sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

“We believe that the nature of the cyber threats facing our nation, their increasing number, and the difficult policy questions they raise lend themselves to a centralized Administration approach,” they wrote. 

The note comes roughly two weeks after the National Security Council (NSC) confirmed it was eliminating the position of cybersecurity coordinator in order to improve management operations. 

The cybersecurity coordinator, a post created under the Obama administration, was responsible for streamlining cyber policymaking efforts across the federal government

Rob Joyce, on loan from the National Security Agency (NSA), most recently served in the role under Trump.

Joyce, however, elected to return to his position at the NSA in April, rather than continue in his job at the White House. The move came shortly after Trump appointed John Bolton as his new national security adviser.

Politico reported early in May that Bolton was considering eliminating the position. On May 15, an NSC spokesman said the decision had been made to do away with the post in order to streamline management across the senior directors devoted to cyber policy efforts. 

“The National Security Council’s cyber office already has two very capable Senior Directors. Moving forward, these Senior Directors will coordinate cyber matters and policy. As they sit six feet apart from one another, they will be able to coordinate in real time,” NSC spokesman Robert Palladino said.

The move immediately drew ire from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) swiftly introduced legislation that, if passed, would effectively save the position.

Without explicitly calling for the position to be reinstated, Collins and Heinrich wrote, “An empowered cybersecurity coordinator is needed to drive and oversee a comprehensive, White House-issued cybersecurity strategy to include deterrence, defense, and network resilience that coordinates U.S. government efforts across the various departments and agencies.”

Broadly, the senators also signaled concern over a lack of public strategy from the White House to deter, defend against and respond to cyberattacks. 

They pressed Trump to quickly complete and release a national strategy to help defend critical U.S. assets — from the financial system to the energy grid — from cyber threats and to deter nation-state hackers. 

“Bipartisan support exists in the Senate for rolling out a cybersecurity strategy as soon as possible,” they wrote.