Warner and Rubio call on Biden’s administration to appoint a leader over SolarWinds’ hacking reaction

“The federal government’s response so far lacks the leadership and coordination required by a significant cyber event,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., And Vice President Senator Marco Rubio , R-, written. Fla., In a letter to administrative intelligence and law enforcement leadership.
Since the adoption of President Joe Biden’s government, there has been increasing pressure to respond to the data breach, which has raised concerns about the security of corporate secrets, government emails and other sensitive data. . The Trump administration formally pointed the finger at Russia last month after revelations surfaced in December that hackers had put malicious code into a tool published by SolarWinds, a software vendor used by numerous government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

Warner and Rubio wrote that they had little confidence that the US was on the ‘shortest path to recovery’. The senators also complained that the briefings they received had a “disrupted and disorganized” response to the confrontation of the offense.

“The threat our country continues to experience from this incident requires clear leadership to develop and guide a unified strategy for recovery, in particular a leader who has the authority to coordinate the response, set priorities and resources. direct to where it is needed, “the letter said.

CNN has released the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – the four agencies that sent the letter.

A spokesman for the office of the director of national intelligence told CNN that the agency had received the letter and would respond accordingly.

A National Security Agency official said the agency “did not comment on congressional correspondence” and an FBI spokesman said: “the FBI can confirm receipt of the letter. We have no further comment. not.”

The Biden administration is praised by experts for raising cyber officials to higher positions in the White House National Security Council, but almost three weeks since the inauguration, there has been no announcement about the national cyber director or the director of the cyber security agency and infrastructure, both positions that can serve as leaders for a coordinated response.
The Security and Infrastructure Security Agency has been managed by Brandon Wales in an acting capacity since then-President Donald Trump fired Chris Krebs, one of the most prominent cyber-officials in the previous government. Rob Silvers, a partner at law firm Paul Hastings, is expected to be appointed to lead the agency in the Biden government, CNN reported earlier. He served during the Obama administration as Assistant Secretary for Cyber ​​Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, as well as in other senior roles at the department.

Meanwhile, Biden’s top cyber officials in the National Security Council are already in place – Anne Neuberger and Michael Sulmeyer, who are both from the National Security Agency.

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