A group of 10 lawmakers led by Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., asked the departments of Homeland Security and Transportation how they carry out their responsibilities as co-sector risk management agencies for the U.S. critical transportation infrastructure amid rising cybersecurity threats to transportation systems.
The senators wrote a letter to DHS Secretary and 2021 Wash100 Award winner Alejandro Mayorkas and DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday asking them to share information on how they meet their certain responsibilities as co-SMRAs.
Those responsibilities include efforts to support risk sector management and incident management, contribution to emergency preparedness activities and initiative to facilitate information sharing regarding physical security and cybersecurity threats within the designated sectors or subsectors.
The lawmakers also want information on the two agencies’ security-related processes to help detect, respond and prevent cyberthreats, including each component agency’s responsibilities under the Transportation Systems Sector-Specific Plan to ensure the security of the country’s critical infrastructure.
DHS and DOT have also been requested to share data on how they work together to prevent redundancies and gaps in federal risk management and efforts to update the Transportation Systems Sector-Specific Plan.
