Senate Homeland Security Committee Questions Four Nominees on CISA, ICIG Independence, AI and D.C. Court Vacancies

At a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, senators questioned four administration nominees about the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) role in elections and speech matters, the independence of the intelligence community’s inspector general, Department of Homeland Security science and technology priorities and staffing shortfalls on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

The exchanges focused on three near-term items: the pending reauthorization of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (often called CISA 2015) and expiring state and local cybersecurity grants; concerns about the impartiality of an intelligence community inspector general nominee who has served in ODNI leadership; and the D.C. Superior Court’s caseload pressure, which senators said is worsened by vacancies.

Senators pressed Sean Planky, the nominee to lead CISA, about the agency’s past role in reviewing online content and its mission going forward. “If confirmed, as the leader of CISA, I'd seek to restore CISA to its congressional authorities and focus on the missions that … secure the federal civilian executive branch computer systems and protect the critical infrastructure of the United States,” Planky said during questioning. Planky told members he would not task CISA with policing political…