News Brief

Chris Krebs Let Go for Second Time by President Trump

In its first full day, the Trump administration axed all advisory committee members within the Department of Homeland Security, including the people that make up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). The CSRB was actively working on investigating Salt Typhoon, the Chinese state-sponsored hacking group responsible for breaches of at least nine telecommunications networks in the past several months.

Background on CSRB and Its Members

The CSRB was created as part of Biden’s 2021 cybersecurity executive order to "review and assess … significant cyber incidents" impacting the federal executive branch of the US government. The board included a who’s who of cybersecurity experts, from companies such as Sentinel One, represented by former CISA head Chris Krebs, who was fired in 2020 as head of CISA in the waning days of the previous Trump administration. The CSRB also included several former Biden administration officials.

Termination of Advisory Committees

In a letter dated Jan. 20, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Benjamine C. Huffman said the move was meant to avoid a "misuse of resources," and terminated all current memberships on advisory committees immediately. Dismissed members of the CSRB include several high-profile cybersecurity experts.

Future of CSRB Unclear

The future existence of the CSRB is unclear. While the letter did not enumerate which committees might be reconstituted with new participants, it did add that, in general, dismissed DHS committee members are welcome to reapply to DHS in the future.

Quote from the Letter

"Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities," the letter read before thanking the outgoing members for their service.