US President Donald Trump’s purges and apparent acts of retribution aimed at top cyber officials put the nation’s digital defences at risk, a former head of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in a in a social media post on Friday.
Mr Trump’s recent moves to fire the two top National Security Agency officials and order an investigation into a previous head of CISA, Christopher Krebs, were part of a larger movement “that risks hollowing out – and worse, politicising – the US federal cyber ecosystem when we can least afford it,” said Jen Easterly, who succeeded Mr Krebs at CISA and left the organisation in January.
In a post on LinkedIn, Ms Easterly said that the entire cybersecurity community, including America’s foreign partners, were being affected by the turmoil.
“As experienced leaders exit and key roles remain vacant, our nation’s cyber defenses are at risk of being dangerously degraded,” she said.
CISA did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The NSA declined to comment.
Mr Trump’s abrupt firing of General Timothy Haugh, who led the NSA and Cyber Command, and his deputy Wendy Noble, combined with his announcement of an investigation into Mr Krebs and restrictions on Krebs’ then-employer, SentinelOne, have shocked the industry.
Neither move was fully explained, but they appear to fit a pattern of Mr Trump using the machinery of state power to punish anyone perceived as disloyal to him personally.
Cybersecurity companies have gone quiet on the matter. None of the 33 major cyber firms approached by Reuters offered comment when asked about Mr Krebs or SentinelOne.
Ms Easterly wrote that the silence from industry leadership needed to end.
“If we allow the quiet dismissal of dedicated public servants in our community to pass without comment – we’re not defending national security; we’re compromising it.”
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