Easterly appeals to Congress on CISA funding, citing Chinese threats to critical infrastructure | CyberScoop<\/title> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/jen-easterly-cisa-funding-congress-critical-infrastructure-china\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Easterly appeals to Congress on CISA funding, citing Chinese threats to critical infrastructure\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The director of the agency told the House Appropriations Committee that a $150 million fund would allow CISA to bolster three key initiatives.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/jen-easterly-cisa-funding-congress-critical-infrastructure-china\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-30T22:35:20+00:00\"> <meta property=\"og:image\" 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content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/cropped-cs_favicon-2.png?w=270\"> <\/head><body class=\"post-template-default single single-post postid-80299 single-format-standard\" id=\"readabilityBody\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/jen-easterly-cisa-funding-congress-critical-infrastructure-china\/#main\" class=\"skip-to-content-link visually-hidden-focusable\">Skip to main content<\/a> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--top ad--top-desktop\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <main id=\"main\" role=\"main\" tabindex=\"-1\"> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--top ad--top-mobile\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--newsletter js-stickybar\" readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"25.154525386313\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"30.298932384342\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/cybersecurity\/\"> <span>Cybersecurity<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> The director of the agency told the House Appropriations Committee that a $150 million fund would allow CISA to bolster three key initiatives. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure.jpg?resize=640%2C431&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg?resize=300,202 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg?resize=768,518 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg?resize=600,404 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg?resize=249,168 249w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg?resize=500,337 500w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-2.jpg?resize=1002,675 1002w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\"><figcaption> CISA Director Jen Easterly is sworn-in as she testifies before a House committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 31, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"34.817010309278\"><body readability=\"71.5\"><\/p>\n<p>More money from Congress would boost the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency\u2019s ability to defend against threats to the nation\u2019s most vital infrastructure, Director Jen Easterly said Tuesday in a House hearing where she emphasized the dangers posed by Chinese hackers in particular.<\/p>\n<p>Especially important in <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/biden-budget-cyber-2025\/\">the fiscal 2024 budget<\/a> that President Joe Biden proposed for CISA, she said, was a $150 million chunk of funding that would improve three CISA programs oriented at least in part toward critical infrastructure protection. Biden has proposed $3 billion for CISA overall, which is $136 million more than Congress appropriated last fiscal year, according to lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p>One of the three programs is CyberSentry, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cisa.gov\/resources-tools\/programs\/cybersentry-program\">a threat detection initiative<\/a> in which CISA partners with critical infrastructure owners and operators.<\/p>\n<p>That $150 million pool would \u201ccontinue to build on that CyberScentry capability, which is really best in class and can be deployed at the most important critical infrastructure owners so we can detect and prevent significant damage to the infrastructure that we believe Chinese cyber actors are going after,\u201d Easterly told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_aQAiaArE3A\">the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Easterly said the $150 million would also help pay for increased capacity for its <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/ivanti-linked-breach-of-cisa-potentially-affected-more-than-100000-individuals\/\">hunt teams<\/a>, which conducted 97 operations in domestic infrastructure to evict hackers during fiscal 2023. And a third initiative would bolster CISA\u2019s field force \u2014 which has grown by 1,700 people since 2021 \u2014 by adding cybersecurity advisers and physical security advisers, which she said would \u201cenable us to help the small and medium businesses and critical infrastructure owners and operators that are under duress from these very serious nation-state threats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Easterly repeatedly returned to the Chinese threat, touting CISA\u2019s abilities in making a difference \u2014 but said her agency would be capable of doing more with additional cash.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we look at the threats to our nation, none is more serious than Chinese cyber actors that are burrowing deep into our critical infrastructure to prepare to launch disruptive and destructive attacks in the event of a major conflict,\u201d she said. U.S. officials have often <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/fbi-warns-china-preparing-for-disruptive-attacks\/\">warned about the wider cyber ramifications<\/a> of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and that such a conflict would be accompanied by digital attacks on U.S. infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have eradicated and evicted these Chinese cyber actors in multiple sectors,\u201d she told lawmakers, highlighting water, power, energy and transportation, specifically. \u201cBut we believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While CISA historically has had bipartisan support in Congress, that backing has gotten rockier among conservatives, some of whom have alleged that the agency has <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cisa-no-credible-election-threats-and-no-contact-with-social-media-companies\/\">engaged in censorship<\/a> on social media. Those conservative complaints inspired <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/first-amendment-supreme-court-first-amendment-murthy\/\">a lawsuit<\/a> against federal agencies, including CISA, that made its way to the Supreme Court, as well as a failed effort by some Republicans last year to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/10\/22\/conservatives-cyber-cisa-politics-00122794\">cut CISA funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Easterly, as she has done repeatedly, said categorically on Tuesday that CISA has had no hand in online censorship.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side of the aisle, Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, said Tuesday that he was concerned that Congress wasn\u2019t \u201cdoing enough\u201d to fund CISA and that U.S. adversaries have placed no such constraints on their resources to attack the United States in cyberspace.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"7.7216117216117\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"Tim Starks\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-card__details\" readability=\"10.901098901099\">\n<h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Tim Starks<\/h4>\n<p> Tim Starks is senior reporter at CyberScoop. His previous stops include working at The Washington Post, POLITICO and Congressional Quarterly. An Evansville, Ind. native, he’s covered cybersecurity since 2003. Email Tim here: <a href=\"mailto:tim.starks@cyberscoop.com\">tim.starks@cyberscoop.com<\/a>. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> <\/html><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__ads js-single-article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-5 ad--rightrail_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-4 ad--rightrail_2 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-3 ad--rightrail_3 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"popular-stories popular-stories--single-post\">\n<div 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{"id":3341,"date":"2024-04-30T17:35:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=80299"},"modified":"2024-04-30T17:35:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:35:20","slug":"easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/30\/easterly-appeals-to-congress-on-cisa-funding-citing-chinese-threats-to-critical-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Easterly appeals to Congress on CISA funding, citing Chinese threats to critical infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"