Cyber leaders in the next Congress say they’re focused on restaffing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, extending key cyber information sharing authorities, strengthening the security of critical infrastructure and addressing artificial intelligence security risks.
With Democrats retaking both the House and the Senate, the expected leaders of committees with cybersecurity oversight are staking out their priorities for January.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), who is expected to retake the reins of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the change in congressional leadership comes at a “pivotal time for CISA” as the agency hires several hundred staff after losing more than 1,000 – roughly one-third of its workforce – since January 2025.
“First and foremost, we will aim to work with CISA to expedite its critical re-staffing effort and to ensure it has the expertise necessary to support stakeholders as they defend against the scale and velocity of AI-enabled cyber-attacks,” Thompson said in a statement. “Advances in AI can help defenders, but it will also accelerate the consequences of deferred investments in security and CISA must be well-positioned to help critical infrastructure owners and operators rapidly improve their cybersecurity posture.”<![CDATA[]]>
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), who is expected to serve as chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also highlighted CISA staffing as key to her homeland security priorities.
“That work involves protecting against terrorism and fentanyl trafficking, but it also includes guarding against emerging threats like artificial intelligence security risks and strengthening our cybersecurity,” Hassan said in a statement. “The Trump-Vance Administration has undermined our security on these fronts, including by diverting resources away from combatting fentanyl trafficking and gutting CISA. We need to reverse these cuts, confront these challenges, and put public safety first.”
Beyond CISA staffing, lawmakers are also looking to revive or advance partnerships and authorities that are key to how the federal government works with state and local governments, and the private sector, on cyber issues.
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, or CISA 2015, is set to expire again in December after a short-term extension as part of the continuing resolution. Nearly three dozen industry groups are calling for a long-term extension of CISA 2015.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who is the expected incoming chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, mentioned reauthorizing CISA 2015 and funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) as top priorities. The Department of Homeland Security allowed funding for the MS-ISAC to expire last year.
Warner said U.S. critical infrastructure, such as power and water, “remains deeply vulnerable.”
“That was glaringly obvious during the Salt Typhoon, Colonial Pipeline, and Change Healthcare hacks that affected millions of Americans, and it is an even more urgent problem today as AI tools will accelerate the speed and scale with which bad actors can disrupt our lives and our national security,” Warner said in a statement. “That is why cyber will remain a priority for me as we enter the new Congress and it is why I believe it is critically important we provide our government and the private sector the tools necessary – like CISA 2015 and MS-ISAC funding – to mitigate these cyber risks.”<![CDATA[]]>
Thompson said his priorities also include extending the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program to provide support for under-resourced sectors, especially water utilities. He also said the homeland security committee will ensure CISA’s new cross-sector coordination authority, Anchor-CI, gets “up and running and meets the needs of stakeholders.
“Finally, we will make sure CISA is well-positioned to support the secure development and deployment of AI,” Thompson said.
Tonya Ugoretz, a cybersecurity leader at consulting firm PwC and former senior cyber official at the FBI, said cybersecurity is “demanding attention in a way that it hasn’t previously because of the impacts of AI.”
“I wouldn’t chalk that up solely to the outcome of the election,” Ugoretz told Federal News Network. “There is that, plus just the nature of the world that we’re living in now with some of long-standing challenges with cybersecurity that we faced over the years being accelerated and exacerbated by some of the new AI capabilities, but with a lot of promise too in terms of how AI can help be part of the solution.”
Ugoretz said she expects lawmakers to pay close attention to resourcing not just at CISA, but across all sector-risk management agencies that have a role in addressing cybersecurity and AI risks in critical infrastructure.
“We’ve seen various members of Congress on both sides of the aisle express interest in examining not only CISA as an agency, but also the resourcing and preparedness for other federal agencies as well, especially as they likely take on increasing demands with everything that’s happening with AI,” she told Federal News Network.
Early next year, the Trump administration is also expected to release find rules for critical infrastructure organizations to report cyber incidents to CISA within 72 hours. CISA sent the final rule for the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) to the White House for review earlier this fall.
“Where companies need to be preparing for that is, in a time when we’re hearing about an increased number of incidents, as well as the increasingly interconnected nature of companies, taking a hard look now internally at the controls and what they can improving now before that rule takes effect in the new year, presumably, to make sure that they’re ready for what those demands are going to be,” Ugoretz said.
Meanwhile, one of the Trump administration’s signature cyber policies so far has been to enlist the private sector to conduct targeted offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal hacking groups.<![CDATA[]]>
Warner said he is interested in “exploring whether we as a nation have the right approach when it comes to offensive cyber.”
“As I have noted repeatedly, we cannot simply be content to play defense when adversaries attack our nation’s civilian infrastructure; we must also be able to punch back,” Warner said. “But how we do that in a way that is measured and consistent with our country’s principles and values is something I plan to explore.”
Copyright
© 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
——————————————————-
Click Here For The Original Source.
