Garbarino Delivers Opening Remarks in Subcommittee Hearing With CISA Director Jen Easterly

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) delivered the following opening remarks in a hearing with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly on the nation’s current cybersecurity posture in defending our critical infrastructure.

The full hearing is livestreamed here.

Watch Subcommittee Chairman Garbarino’s full opening remarks during a hearing entitled, “CISA 2025: The State of American Cybersecurity from CISA’s Perspective.”

As prepared for delivery:

Welcome back for our second subcommittee hearing of the Congress.  Last month, we hosted industry leaders to give their perspective on the state of American cybersecurity and particularly how the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, has developed since its creation five years ago. I am glad that we will hear directly from CISA Director Jen Easterly on her views on CISA’s evolution and where it needs to grow and mature by 2025. Director Easterly and I have had a fantastic working relationship since I started as Ranking Member of this subcommittee last Congress—I look forward to continuing our strong bipartisan relationship this Congress.

In our last hearing, there were some common themes from our witnesses that I hope to further explore with Director Easterly this afternoon.

First, we learned that CISA must work with industry and interagency partners to ease the compliance burden that industry faces from duplicative regulation. It’s clear that our nation must increase resilience to cyber risk across the board, particularly within our critical infrastructure sectors. But, we must find the right balance between regulatory burden and improving security outcomes.

We also heard a lot about one of CISA’s newest initiatives: the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative, or JCDC. We heard that JCDC has the potential to be a value-add to the private sector but additional transparency around its mission and processes would benefit both JCDC and industry.

Finally, and perhaps most foundationally, we heard about the need for a robust cybersecurity workforce. We need not only enough people but the right people with the right skills, in the rightjobs. This is one of my top priorities this Congress and I am looking forward to hearing Director Easterly’s perspective on how CISA can best contribute to the development of our national cyber workforce.

This hearing is timely. It comes as we are evaluating the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget request. CISA is requesting $3.1 billion, a $145 million increase over the FY 23 enacted funding level. The dialogue we have during this hearing will help inform our committee’s review of the budget, particularly the new programs CISA proposes within, including the evolution of the National Cybersecurity Protection System.

I think I speak for all the Members on this dais when I say that we want CISA to succeed. Its mission is too important to fail. It’s our responsibility to ask pointed but productive questions about CISA’s stewardship of the resources and authorities Congress has given it.  As I said in our last hearing, Congress intends to be a partner to CISA to ensure the agency meets its full potential. Director Easterly, I look forward to your testimony today and thank you for being here.