'Ensure That We Are Mission Ready': Tedd Budd Warns Of 'Shortfalls' In US' Cyber Warfare Defense

4 months ago

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the recess, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) spoke about cyber security defense in the US military.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you both for being here and congratulations on your nominations and congratulations to

00:06your families as well.

00:07Dr. Solmeier, hopefully you had some sleep recently as a new father, so congratulations

00:11there as well.

00:12Ms. Wilkerson, I enjoyed our conversation yesterday, so if confirmed, you would have

00:17direct oversight responsibility for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.

00:23As you know, DCSA took over responsibility for conducting background investigations for

00:30most federal agencies after the 2015 OPM breach.

00:36What happened there is that it compromised highly sensitive data of millions of Americans

00:44and this caused severe damage to our national security.

00:47We talked a little bit about that yesterday.

00:49So DCSA, it conducts these background investigations through a combination of recently developed

00:54systems and old legacy IT systems.

00:57Those systems were previously owned by OPM.

00:59So as we talked about yesterday, GAO recently came out with a study, it said DCSA, it hasn't

01:07appropriately addressed the cybersecurity risks of these IT systems.

01:12So I think that's absolutely unacceptable and it increases the chance of another catastrophic

01:17breach.

01:18Could you talk about your thoughts on this report?

01:22Senator, thank you for taking the time to meet with me yesterday and I did appreciate

01:27our conversation on this particular report.

01:30Clearly the department and the IC must ensure that we're addressing any potential for vulnerabilities

01:37with respect to our background investigation systems.

01:40I had an opportunity to read the report and I really feel like the recommendations are

01:45very compelling.

01:48It's my understanding that DCSA has already started to move out on actions to implement

01:53the recommendations that were included in the report.

01:57Many of which seem to focus around thinking about how we focus on risk management.

02:02And so if confirmed, I would strongly support DCSA continuing to ensure that implementation

02:10of those particular recommendations and then also do all within my ability to ensure their

02:16success within this.

02:18Ms. Wilkerson, that was the second part of my question.

02:21Ask if confirmed, do you commit to addressing these issues?

02:24And that sounds like a yes.

02:25That is absolutely a yes.

02:28Dr. Sillmeyer, it was great to meet with you a couple weeks ago.

02:31We talked about the increasing need for cybersecurity professionals in order to ensure that we are

02:36mission ready.

02:38If confirmed, what will be your strategy to address these readiness shortfalls of the

02:43cyber mission force?

02:46Well, thank you, Senator.

02:48Building that combat power and that sustained readiness is the overall goal.

02:52That's how we will have a robust deterrence posture.

02:55That's how we'll be able to disrupt and degrade our adversaries' work.

02:59So that for me is the number one priority.

03:02In terms of how to do it, first, we've got to be able to recruit from a broad audience

03:08that has that propensity to serve, to put the interests of the team and the nation ahead

03:13of themselves, and have that technical interest and aptitude.

03:18But then we have to retain them and to show them that there is a career and a pipeline

03:22to stay in federal service and national security.

03:25But also if they want to get out for a while, they should be empowered to know that they

03:30can come back and continue to help the nation later when that's possible.

03:34Those are just a few of the areas I'd start with to build that combat power.

03:39I'd like to discuss the importance of collaborations between cyber operations and special operations

03:44forces as well.

03:45We talked a little bit about that a few weeks ago.

03:47Do you agree that the access, placement, and intel gathering that SOF provide is vital

03:53to successfully conduct many cyber operations?

03:57Very much so, Senator.

03:59If confirmed, I'd work very closely with the Assistant Secretary for Special Operations

04:03to see what even more we can do on that front.

04:06Thank you very much.

04:07Here's the second part of my questions.

04:10Would you confirm to work with SOLIC on that issue?

04:14Thank you very much.

04:15Absolutely.

04:16I yield.

'Ensure That We Are Mission Ready': Tedd Budd Warns Of 'Shortfalls' In US' Cyber Warfare Defense

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