National infrastructure plan could strain CISA despite modernizing systems
“Right now, the government is so significantly underfunded in cybersecurity that you have to start at least by putting some money behind it. Less than $2 billion for CISA and $10 billion for Cyber Command aren’t enough,” said Tatyana Bolton, policy director of cybersecurity and emerging threats for the R Street Institute and a former cyber policy lead in CISA’s Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans.
“You want to be able to build the foundation of a house before you start adding window balances and putting up sconces on your walls,” she said.
The infrastructure bill includes plenty of those sconces. It aims to fix 20,000 miles of roads and 10,000 bridges, modernize public transit and create EV charging stations. It seeks to institute nationwide broadband, weatherproof the electric grid and turn it green, and improve water systems, as well as “revitalize manufacturing, secure U.S. supply chains, invest in R&D, and train Americans for the jobs of the future,” according to a fact sheet issued by the White House.
The ambitions of the bill, Bolton said, are important. But so, too, is ensuring the government is ready to handle that increase in workload.
