Ten months into the new administration, and the Department of Homeland Security still is missing an undersecretary in charge of the nation's cybersecurity. The National Protection and Programs Directorate officially "leads the national effort to protect and enhance the resilience of the nation’s physical and cyber infrastructure."
Mother Jones notes that while then President-elect Trump stated back in January he would assemble a team to devise a plan within 90 days to address Russian election interference, no such effort has materialized.
Homeland Security veterans say the lack of senior staff at DHS leaves the department hard-pressed to keep up with daily cyberattacks on federal agencies and businesses, let alone beef up cyber defenses. “When you’re pushing out new policies, not having people in place really slows it down,” James Norton, a former deputy assistant secretary at DHS under President George W. Bush and head of cybersecurity consulting firm Play-Action Strategies, tells Mother Jones.
In a joint press conference with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) Wednesday, Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) emphasized the need for a "more aggressive, organized 'whole of government' approach" to protecting our nation from ongoing cyber influence operations and future election interference campaigns.
Trump Still Hasn’t Gotten Around to Appointing Someone to Protect Our Elections From Cyberattacks (Mother Jones)
Related: Trump blows his deadline on anti-hacking plan (Politico 4/20/17)