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Cybersecurity, What Cybersecurity?

Consumed by the impeachment process, there's been no progress on cybersecurity.

There are two lessons to be learned from this article about Kirstjen Nielsen's first public appearance since leaving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kirstjen Nielsen says she left DHS because 'saying no' wasn't enough.

The first is that your public life and high-profile actions that are in the news can define everything there is about you — such is the case with Kirstjen Nielsen. The second thing is about cybersecurity. It gets a passing mention in the article at the end as the topic she wanted to talk about — yet was never discussed.

While I'm fully supportive of the current impeachment process that is ongoing, it is sucking all the wind and energy out of Congress. It is like they are paralyzed and can't walk and chew gum at the same time, much to the detriment of the functioning of our nation. 

Everyone is waving flags trying to get attention to the issue of 2020 election interference and no one on the appropriations and political side of the equation is paying collective attention to the issue. Again, the behavior makes us truly "exceptional." 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.