Former Rep. Mike Rogers: DHS Needs More Resources, Authority to Manage National Cyber Platform

Mike Rogers, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has said the Department of Homeland Security should be given more authority and additional resources to manage a system that works to protect government networks from cyber threats.

Rogers wrote in a Defense One opinion piece published Saturday that such additional resources should be supported with “concomitant oversight and accountability from Capitol Hill.”

“DHS manages the [National Cybersecurity Protection System] in a piecemeal fashion using outdated and outmoded technology,” he wrote.

He called on DHS to prioritize efforts to update NCPS in order to protect agency networks from current and future security threats as well as modernize the EINSTEIN system that works to detect and prevent cyber intrusions.

Rogers said the U.S. government should also work to facilitate sharing of cyber threat data with the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand; enter into partnerships with the private sector to help develop new platforms against cyber vulnerabilities; and introduce changes to the acquisition process.