Kirstjen Nielsen has plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Homeland Security secretary has a new plan for DHS to defend the American people. She envisions an agency, not just focused on preventing terrorist attacks, but one that helps stops a range of threats, such as cyberattacks, from other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those were just Wednesday\u2019s announcements<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amid a crush of cyberattacks and hacking attempts against the U.S. government, Nielsen announced broad reforms to the Department of Homeland Security at George Washington University Sept. 5. But it is not clear if her plans will come to fruition or the exact mechanics of what will change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nielsen announced the reforms while providing an overview of cyberthreats against the United States and proclaiming the \u201cre-rise of the hostile nation-state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are among the nations that are threatening the U.S. \u201cat the highest levels since the Cold War,\u201d Nielsen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDHS was founded 15 years ago to prevent another 9\/11, but I believe an attack of that magnitude is much more likely to reach us online than on an airplane,\u201d Nielsen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have moved past the \u2018epidemic\u2019 stage and are now at a \u2018pandemic\u2019 stage \u2014 a worldwide outbreak of cyberattacks and cyber vulnerabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nielsen\u2019s comments portray this shift as one of the most ambitious in the department\u2019s 15-year history, but details are thin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the agency is overhauling its crisis response teams and advisory boards, but Nielsen did not give more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the department is reorganizing intelligence units into mission centers that are modeled after the CIA reforms, but Nielsen did not explain what those new centers were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she said the agency is shifting from a counterterrorism posture to focus on preventing nation-state interference. But it was not clear what would change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spokespeople for the department did not respond to a list of questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plans may have lacked detail, but the cause of Nielsen\u2019s reorientation was clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdversary nation-states are taking the fight directly to citizens,\u201d Nielsen said, referencing Russian influence operations in the 2016 presidential campaign, as well as North Korean hacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking about the new risk management center to reporters Sept. 6, Jeanette Manfra, an assistant secretary at DHS, said the agency has taken existing resources and repurposed them into a new structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are \u201calways additional resources that are useful, but we thought it was important to take what we had now, organize it more efficiently, and have these teams integrated so they are taking advantage of each other\u2019s work,\u201d Manfra said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Sept. 6 that DHS is renaming and reorganizing its National Protection and Programs Directorate to focus on cyber and physical security \u2014 but nothing broader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said she supports DHS emphasizing cybersecurity but wanted more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo my knowledge, [Nielsen] has not engaged [with the committee] and I would hesitate to do a major reorganization of the Department of Homeland Security without ongoing briefings with members of Congress,\u201d said Jackson Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe idea that we are doing a massive reorganization, if I might, pre-midterm elections, in a fractured administration, with a president under investigation, and 427 children still not united with their families \u2014 totally assigned to the incompetence of the administration and Department of Homeland Security \u2014 I would question moving the chess pieces,\u201d Jackson Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At George Washington University, Nielsen also laid out how new threats will require more than reorganizing the department, again calling on businesses to partner with the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNeither private companies nor citizens are equipped to wage a battle against a Goliath. So we must partner together,\u201d Nielsen said. Partnership is \u201cthe lifeline of America\u2019s survival.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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