Members of the Senate Select Committees on Intelligence and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs are backing the reinstatement of the Cyber Safety Review Board, a group of experts from government and industry that makes cybersecurity-related recommendations.
In a letter addressed to Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security and a 2025 Wash100 Award winner, Democratic Sens. Mark R. Warner, Va.; Ron Wyden, Ore.; Richard Blumenthal, Conn.; and Elissa Slotkin, Mich., said the CSRB is vital to national security and in responding to threats such as the Chinese government-backed Salt Typhoon cyberattacks.
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What Was CSRB?
CSRB was created in February 2022 under the previous administration to convene cybersecurity experts in an independent review board to investigate serious cyber incidents and advise the government and industry on how to strengthen critical networks.
Aside from the Salt Typhoon breach, CSRB also looked into Lapsus$, a global hacker group known for carrying out extortion and ransomware attacks on companies across multiple industries, and the Storm-0558 intrusion into the Microsoft Exchange Online service in 2023.
In January, President Donald Trump abolished CSRB as part of cost-cutting efforts and to refocus priority on national security within DHS.
“Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities,” Benjamine Huffman, who served as acting homeland security secretary, said in a memo shared Jan. 20.
Why Bring Back CSRB?
In their letter to Noem, the senators pointed out that CSRB is in line with the administration’s emphasis on tapping private sector capabilities and external expertise in government to address complex challenges.
The legislators also warned that the dismissal of CSRB members and the uncertainties surrounding the independent board’s future have negative impacts on cyber defenses across the private and public sectors.
“As we have said before, inadequate cyber security practices put our economy, our national security and even lives at risk,” they wrote in the letter.
“In this age of great innovation, we cannot afford to see our private or public systems compromised by malicious actors,” they added.
The letter concluded with a call for DHS leadership to work with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to reestablish CSRB as a “crucial part of America’s cyber defense infrastructure.”
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