UK cybersecurity agency unconcerned about changes to CISA under Trump

Senior officials at Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have said they are not worried about changes facing its sister organisation, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), under the incoming Trump administration.

Several of the choices by President-elect Donald Trump for leaders across the U.S. intelligence community have prompted criticism domestically. Picks such as Kash Patel for FBI Director and Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence have been deemed to reflect loyalty to Trump over competence for their positions.

While the pick to lead CISA has not yet been announced, there are concerns that the eventual nomination also will be made on political grounds, and that the agency could be restructured to suit some Republican Party figures who are hostile over CISA’s perceived political bias in terms of its election integrity work.

Speaking to journalists this week about whether the NCSC shared these concerns about the future of CISA — with which it collaborates on policies and advisories, and even shares staff — the agency’s chief technology officer Ollie Whitehouse gave a frank response: “No.”

Regarding the calls by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) — who is set to head the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — for CISA to be restructured and subject to greater oversight, the NCSC’s chief executive, Richard Horne, said the partnership would survive any shakeup.

“The actual institutions have changed over time, and the relationship has continued and been deep,” said Horne. “The relationship goes very deep, and it’s much more than senior individuals — it’s more than even, necessarily, institutions. There’s a lot of real, deep, working-level collaboration,” he said, adding that he did not think further changes in the future would impact that.