(TNS) — U.S. Rep.
John Katko
said he's encouraged after President
Joe Biden
announced this week that he would nominate
Jen Easterly
to lead the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Easterly has a strong resume, especially on cyber issues. She is a West Point graduate and was a
Rhodes Scholar
at the
University of Oxford. She served in the Army for more than 20 years, which included deployments to
Afghanistan, the Balkans,
Haiti and
Iraq.
She had a previous stint at the
White House as a special assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism.
Easterly's also has private-sector experience. In 2017, she began working for
Morgan Stanley and established its Cybersecurity Fusion Center, which she led.
Katko, R-
Camillus, won't vote on Easterly's nomination — she must be confirmed by the
U.S. Senate. But he expressed his approval of the president's selection to lead CISA.
"
Ms. Easterly
brings substantial credibility and a reputation of working productively between government and the private sector to increase the cybersecurity resilience of the nation," said Katko, who is the ranking Republican member on the
House Homeland Security Committee.
Cybersecurity issues have been a high priority for Katko, who was the ranking member of a cybersecurity subcommittee in the last
Congress. At a
House Homeland Security Committee meeting in February, a pair of experts told Katko that the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency should oversee cybersecurity for federal departments and related agencies.
CISA is a nascent agency. It was established in 2018 — Katko supported its creation — and is part of the
Department of Homeland Security.
Katko noted that the agency is playing a role in responding to two major cyber incidents that occurred within the last several months, including the
SolarWinds espionage campaign and the Microsoft Exchange server hack.
"As a nation, we are at a crossroads in our strategy to defend and secure the .gov cyber space, and strong leadership is essential," he said. "I continue to call on
President Biden
to support desperately needed changes to allow CISA more centralized, real-time visibility into the entirety of the civilian .gov and put CISA on a much-needed path to becoming a $5 billion agency."
Katko added, "I look forward to working with
Ms. Easterly
and (
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman
Bennie Thompson
) to ensure that CISA has the resources, workforce and authorities it needs to carry out its mission."
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