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New boss, not quite the same as the old boss.
In a move sure to frustrate many in the cybersecurity world, President Trump on Monday summarily dismissed the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB).
The CSRB decision was part of a larger order affecting the agency communicated via a memo from DHS Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman. In the directive, Huffman instructed the department to act to effect “the termination of all current memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately.”
Any further work, Huffman continued, would only be approved if it were found to be “advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities.”
Outlook not so good. Long-term subjective determinations of advancing the mission aside, the short-term, knock-on effects of the firings could prove damaging to US national security. The CSRB was investigating a purported Chinese hack of US government telecommunications from last summer. That investigation is likely paused for now.
One victim of the hack, Trump ally Rep. Mark Green, said in a statement to The Record that he was hopeful the president would keep security in mind. It’s of specific interest to Green beyond his targeting as he is the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
“Given the CSRB is tasked with investigating significant cyber intrusions—such as the Microsoft Exchange incident my committee examined last year—President Trump’s new DHS leadership should have the opportunity to decide the future of the Board,” Green said.
Coda. In a grim twist, one of the members of the dissolved board is Chris Krebs, CIO and PPO at SentinelOne. Krebs served Trump as CISA director in his first term, before the president fired him in November 2020 for creating and maintaining a site designed to push back against election misinformation.
“He should be drawn and quartered,” Trump’s campaign lawyer Joseph diGenova said at the time. “Taken out at dawn and shot.”