Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise today in support of two critical nominations: Jen Easterly's nomination to be the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency--commonly referred to as CISA--within the Department of Homeland Security, as well as Robin Carnahan to be the Administrator of the General Services Administration, or GSA.

Our country is under attack. Nation-state actors and criminal organizations are relentlessly targeting our government, critical infrastructure, and key industries to infiltrate networks, steal information, conduct espionage, and demand ransom payments.

These cyber attacks pose a serious threat to our national security. As we saw from the SolarWinds hack, as well as the Colonial Pipeline and JBS ransomware attacks, cyber criminals are constantly looking to exploit cyber security vulnerabilities and find the weakest link. We must be vigilant about preventing these attacks, and we need a strong, coordinated approach from across the Federal Government to better secure America's networks. That means the Senate needs to confirm qualified cyber security nominees so that they can get to work immediately.

CISA is the lead domestic Agency for cyber security in the Federal Government. It is responsible for ensuring that Federal Departments and Agencies--our private sector critical infrastructure partners--and the American people have the resources to detect, to withstand, and to respond to cyber attacks. GSA provides a wide range of support to Agencies across the government. One of GSA's key functions is to provide funding and expertise to help Agencies both modernize and secure their IT systems and their networks. We need Senate-confirmed leadership at the top of these critical Agencies, and we need it today.

Ms. Easterly has served for over three decades in the Federal Government and the private sector.

Since 2017, Ms. Easterly has led the operations center for Morgan Stanley's cyber defense strategy. She was also a critical member of the Cyber Solarium Commission, which has made 80 recommendations for cyber deterrence, 25 of which have already become law.

Prior to joining the private sector, Ms. Easterly served as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism, the Deputy for Counterterrorism at the National Security Agency, and was instrumental in the design and creation of the U.S. Cyber Command.

On top of all of these incredible accomplishments, Ms. Easterly is a two-time recipient of the Bronze Star and retired from the U.S. Army after more than 20 years of service in intelligence in cyber operations.

Ms. Easterly is more than qualified for this position, and this body needs to confirm her nomination today to lead CISA.

Every day that this body delays confirming critical leaders like Ms. Easterly and Ms. Carnahan leaves our Federal system and our Nation vulnerable to cyber attacks. We have already seen the damage and the chaos from these attacks. The Colonial Pipeline attack disrupted the lives of millions of Americans, created fuel shortages, and saddled customers with high gas prices for weeks. The next major breach could be even worse.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting Ms. Easterly's nomination to lead CISA and to take on the vital mission of strengthening our defenses and fighting back against the persistent cyber attacks that threaten our Nation each and every day. Cyber security and strengthening our Federal networks are not partisan issues. Cyber attacks put each and every one of us at risk.

I would hope my colleagues will allow these nominees to be confirmed today so they can keep us safe.

176, Jen Easterly, of New York, to be Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, and the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate.

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