Heinrich, Collins: Cybersecurity Coordinator Position Needed to Protect U.S. Against Cyber Threats

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing their concern regarding the decision to eliminate the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator position in the National Security Council. Senators Heinrich and Collins are both members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“In our view, an empowered cybersecurity coordinator is needed to drive and oversee comprehensive, White House-issued cybersecurity strategy to include deterrence, defense, and network resilience that coordinates U.S. government efforts across the various departments and agencies,” wrote Senators Heinrich and Collins. “We urge you to prioritize completion and announcement of our nation’s cybersecurity strategy as soon as possible, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with you to put in place such a strategy.”

“A whole-of-government cybersecurity strategy could help facilitate engagement between the private and public sector to make the country’s cyber infrastructure more resilient and secure,” the Senators continued.

Earlier this year, Senators Heinrich and Collins joined a bipartisan group of Senators in introducing a revised version of the Secure Elections Act, legislation to strengthen election cybersecurity in America. The revised legislation maintains the original purpose of the bill to streamline cybersecurity information-sharing between federal intelligence entities and state election agencies; provide security clearances to state election officials; and provide support for state election cybersecurity infrastructure.

A copy of the letter is available here.