Megan Brown Discusses Biden Administration’s Increased Budget for CISA

April 13, 2021

Megan L. Brown, partner in Wiley’s Privacy, Cyber & Data Governance, National Security, and Telecom, Media, & Technology practices, was quoted in an April 12 Inside Cybersecurity article about increased funding for cyber programs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), reflected in President Biden’s first budget proposal.

Rep. John Katko [R-NY] has indicated that the CISA needs a $5 billion budget, rather than the proposed $2.1 billion, Inside Cybersecurity reported.

“If budgets reflect values, as is often said, folks should look at the budget for CISA and compare it to what Katko and others think the agency needs. Everyone says $500 million or even a billion is a drop in the bucket. CISA needs funds, as does federal IT modernization — big picture,” said Ms. Brown.

“I am skeptical that chunks of money without regulatory reform and simplification of acquisition processes will make much difference. I don’t see the agencies as starved for cash in general, but GAO keeps finding that they are not doing the basics on cyber,” said Ms. Brown.

“The disconnect seems to be the desire to impose multiple additional requirements on contractors but without recognizing the need to pay for it,” Ms. Brown said. She pointed out that DOD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, NIST’s 800-171 certification, assessments, and threat hunting are not cheap to implement. “If that is what the U.S. government wants, it should pay for it,” she added.

To read the article, click here (subscription required).