Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen rolled out a new cybersecurity defense plan Tuesday during her speech at the National Cybersecurity Summit in New York.
CNN:
The announcement of the National Risk Management Center, a physical space that was created inside DHS, was made as Nielsen called out Russia for meddling in the 2016 election in her most forceful public comments to date on the matter. But she still stopped short of endorsing a key US intelligence finding that Russia interfered with the aim of helping President Donald Trump's candidacy.
"Let me be clear: Our intelligence community has it right. It was the Russians. We know that. They know that. It was directed from the highest levels. And we cannot and will not allow that to happen again," Nielsen said.
The DHS chief said cyberthreats have now surpassed physical threats in endangering the US.
"Don't get me wrong, terrorists and criminals still pose a serious threat to our lives, and they are plotting against Americans daily. However, the 'attack surface' in cyberspace is now broader and under more frequent assault," Nielsen said.
Nielsen's unequivocal rhetoric, and her willingness to point fingers at the upper echelons of Vladimir Putin's government, were a sharp contrast with Trump's shifting position on whether the Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election and his skepticism about the assessments of the U.S. intelligence community.
During his summit with Putin in Helsinki, Trump said he didn't see why Russia would've interfered in the election. The next day, July 17, Trump said he meant to say the opposite — "I don’t see any reason why it wouldn't be [Russia]" and that he accepted the intelligence community's "conclusion" that Russia had meddled. But he also added: "It could be other people. A lot of people out there."
CNN:
The National Risk Management Center is expected to focus on financial services, telecommunications and energy sectors ...
(...)
The new center will include what Nielsen called 90-day "sprints" starting immediately to identify key priorities and to conduct joint risk assessments. Cross-sector exercises will also start this fall.
The plan is to work with federal partners in the private sector to help identify, assess and prioritize risks to protect national critical infrastructure, Nielsen said.
Government officials were spurred to create the new measure as security officials have warned that cyberattacks are ongoing and that a hack of key infrastructure could have disastrous effects.
While Secretary Nielsen and Vice President Mike Pence, who also appeared at the summit, both reaffirmed their stance that they agree with the intelligence community's assessment of Russian election interference, both also made a point of saying, "No votes were changed." We do not know that to be true. If the interference campaign was successful – and we know it was – then it is possible it changed voters' opinions of the candidates, essentially "changing votes."
Earlier this month, Nielsen warned state officials that the threat from Russia to target elections has not gone away. Nielsen, along with others such as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who also said cyberattacks from Russia have not stopped, made the remarks at a security conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Nielsen announces new efforts to defend against cyberattacks (CNN)
Trump's DHS chief Kirstjen Nielsen: 'Let me be clear. It was the Russians.' (NBC News)