A cybersecurity industry group comprising almost two dozen tech heavyweights – including Google, Cisco, CrowdStrike, and Microsoft – are urging the Trump Administration and Congress in the wake of the government shutdown to take steps to harden the government’s security stance amid growing threats from China and other foreign adversaries.

In an open letter earlier this month, the Cybersecurity Coalition outlined what it says are four key areas the White House and Congress need to address to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity posture, from giving security agencies the necessary staffing and technology to renewing existing programs and creating new frameworks to reengaging with the private sector.

“After the government shutdown, new leadership is needed to protect our nation from increasing cyber threats,” the group wrote, noting the growing instances of malicious activity from China – including “significant cyberattacks” targeting state and local governments in at least 44 states this year – Russia, and other countries. “Nation-state actors and cybercriminal groups are also rapidly developing new Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs), which increasingly leverage AI, to infiltrate government systems, disrupt critical infrastructure, and exploit private enterprises and citizens alike.”

Given this, it’s imperative that the executive and legislative branches of government dedicate “the necessary attention and resources to protect Americans and safeguard U.S. economic and national security against these growing threats,” wrote the coalition, whose members also include Palo Alto Networks, Rapid7, Kyndryl, and Zscaler.

Battle Over the Nation’s Cybersecurity

The Trump Administration’s slashing of the U.S. government workforce and offices’ budgets has been well-documented, and the various federal cybersecurity agencies – including CISA, the National Security Agency (NSA), and U.S. Cyber Command (CyberCom) – have not been immune, due to either fiscal or political concerns. For example, CISA reportedly has lost as many as 1,000 employees, either through voluntary departures, reassignments, and layoffs.

Some agencies also have had their missions changed.

Democrats in Congress have pushed back at what they see as a weakening of the country’s cyber defenses at a time of heightened threats. House Democrats in October sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging her to rehire CISA employees let go during the 43-day shutdown and to bring back those who had been reassigned elsewhere.

More recently, in a speech earlier this month on the Senate floor, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, railed at what he called the Trump Administration’s political purge of the FBI and dismantling of the country’s cyber defenses, noting the removal the leaders of the NSA and Defense Intelligence Agency, the lack of a permanent head of CyberCom, and the disbanding of the Foreign Influence Task Force, which is responsible for protecting U.S. elections against foreign interference.

“Firing agents who investigate terrorists, foreign spies, cyber hackers, and child predators does not make America safer, especially when the president’s own intelligence officials warn, publicly and repeatedly, of the many threats facing our nation,” Warner said. “The next attack will not wait for Congress to act. The next threat will not ask permission. And when it comes, the consequences will not be measured in polling numbers or election results. They will be measured in lives lost, infrastructure damaged, and national security compromised.”

Technology and People Needed

In their four-page open letter, Cybersecurity Coalition members wrote that federal agencies rely on “substantial technical and human resources as well as clear overarching guidance” to secure their own environments or coordinate security efforts.

“The shutdown, however, has disrupted the federal government’s efforts to procure cybersecurity capabilities, secure newly created cloud services, hire personnel to fill mission-critical vacancies, and publish new guidance documents,” they wrote, noting it also slowed hiring initiatives.

The coalition urged the Trump Administration to expedite delayed security procurements and ensure contract processes continue uninterrupted, hiring people to fill gaps, strengthen efforts to keep employees, and reinstate exemptions that protected cybersecurity personnel from layoffs. It also needs to prioritize completing guidance for the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act, which is designed to ensure actions to make the government ready for post-quantum cryptography.

Administration, Congress Must Work Together

The group also wants the Administration to work with Congress to fill key leadership posts in agencies like CISA, NSA, and CyberCom, and for the White House to make the Office of the National Cyber Director the government’s central authority for cybersecurity policy and coordination. It should also accelerate the development of policies to use AI-powered defensive tools.

In addition, the White House also needs to create a new structure for what will replace the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, which coalition members said has played a key role in ensuring cooperation between the government and owners of critical infrastructure, which has become a top target of nation-linked threat groups from China, Iran, and elsewhere.

Looking to Congress, the coalition wants the legislative branch to reauthorize the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015 – which enables broad sharing of cyber threat information among private companies and government agencies – for another 10 years and to renew the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP), which lends money to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments for their cybersecurity efforts.