President-elect Donald Trump is likely to be working with familiar cybersecurity hands on Capitol Hill next year, as all of the key committee chairmen on cyber issues were re-elected and are expected to resume their roles in the 115th Congress.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., erased what had been a double-digit deficit to win re-election, while Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., also turned back a stiff challenge from the former American Civil Liberties Union director in his state.
Johnson became chairman of the homeland security panel at the start of the last Congress and was a cosponsor of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015. His opponent in the Senate race, former Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold, strongly opposed that bill on privacy and civil liberties grounds.
Burr, in his first year as intelligence chairman, helped pass the Cybersecurity Act in partnership with Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel. Burr promised voters during the campaign that his next six-year term in the Senate would be his last.
Burr along with House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who is expected to continue leading that panel, served as national security advisers to the Trump campaign.
Johnson also supported and campaigned with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will continue as majority leader, now facing off against Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who is expected to replace retiring Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., as minority leader.
Schumer supported the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 although he made clear his preference for an earlier cybersecurity bill that would have imposed mandatory security controls on industry.
Schumer also cosponsored a consumer data security and breach notification bill that was largely opposed by industry and never advanced through committee.
Trump’s statements and policy papers during the campaign suggest cybersecurity policy will be pursued with an emphasis on deterrence and cyber crime-fighting, while regulatory agencies may be substantially reined in by the new administration.
Much of the cyberpolicy community has backed a continuation of the Obama administration’s overall cyberstrategy, even as business leaders warned of a drift toward regulation at some independent agencies.
How President-elect Trump views the government-industry partnership model on cybersecurity crafted by the Obama administration remains to be seen. But he seems unlikely to pursue a greater emphasis on regulation.
Trump in October said cybersecurity would be an “immediate and top priority” for his administration and promised a “thorough review” of the security of federal networks.
He also said he would look into vulnerabilities of vital infrastructures.
Trump said he would put together a public-private “cyberreview team” to analyze weaknesses in federal systems and come up with the appropriate technological solutions.
“And hopefully, that’s gonna be our technology,” Trump said at the time.
Trump in his October policy statement called for a joint federal task force to address cybercrime, while saying he would bolster the U.S. military’s offensive capabilities in cyberspace.
Charlie Mitchell is editor of InsideCybersecurity.com, an exclusive service covering cybersecurity policy from Inside Washington Publishers, and author of “Hacked: The Inside Story of America’s Struggle to Secure Cyberspace,” published by Rowman and Littlefield.
