On Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the new president of the United States, the Department of Homeland Security told members of several advisory committees that they had indeed been fired.
Among the affected committees is the Cyber Security Review Board, or CSRB, according to sources close to the board who spoke to TechCrunch, as well as what other outlets have reported. The CSRB was made up of cybersecurity experts from both the private sector and government.
A person familiar with the CSRB, who received the letter informing them of the termination of their CSRB membership, criticized the decision.
“Shutting down all DHS advisory committees without considering the impact was horribly short-sighted,” the person, who asked to remain anonymous, told TechCrunch. “Stopping the CSRB review while China has ongoing cyber attacks against our critical infrastructure is a dangerous mistake. We must learn from Salt Typhoon and protect ourselves better. The fact that this is not a priority for Trump is significant.”
“You can’t stop what you don’t understand and the CSRB was arming us with understanding,” the person added.
The person was referring to the CSRB’s analysis of devastating recent breaches of several telecommunications companies in the United States, allegedly carried out by Chinese government hackers.
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CISA spokeswoman Valerie Mongello referred TechCrunch’s request for comment to DHS.
In response to a request for comment, DHS provided a comment from an anonymous senior DHS official.
“Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security will no longer tolerate any advisory committee that advances programs that attempt to undermine its national security mission, the President’s agenda, or the constitutional rights of Americans,” the statement read. The DHS spokesperson did not respond when asked to provide a name.
“In keeping with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) commitment to eliminate misuse of resources and ensure that DHS activities prioritize our national security, I am ordering the termination of all current committee memberships advisory within DHS, effective immediately,” the statement reads. letter sent to CSRB members.
Another person familiar with the matter pointed out that “it’s interesting that the rationale is ‘abuse of resources’ because all members of the advisory board receive an extraordinarily rich salary of… $0.”
Katie Moussouris, a cybersecurity expert with more than two decades of experience and former member of the CSRB, told TechCrunch that “people who serve as government consultants should be judged on skills and merit, not on political affiliation. I hope that these important vacancies on the advisory board will be filled without delay with the most qualified individuals.”
The CSRB investigated the breach of U.S. government email systems provided by Microsoft, which was also allegedly carried out by Chinese government hackers. In March last year, the committee released a report on the incident, which was widely praised in the cybersecurity community.
Other members of the DHS Advisory Committee who are reportedly affected by the DHS decision are those dedicated to artificial intelligence, telecommunications, science and technology, and emergency preparedness.
