Intelligence committee boosts its cyber defense
House panel stays on guard during inquiry into Russian hacking
“Every part of Capitol Hill is subject for attack by foreign governments, by individuals ... who mean us harm.” House Administration Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss.
While the House Intelligence Committee digs into whether the Russians might have hacked the U.S. election last year, the committee has beefed up its own hacking defenses.
Congressional spending reports indicate that the committee spent $32,000 on software and about $9,000 more than usual on technical services in May, expenses that committee spokesman Jack Langer said were part of a cybersecurity upgrade unrelated to the Russia probe.
Congressional reports indicate the cybersecurity boost is part of a 30% increase in the committee’s annual budget — from about $4.6 million in 2016 to about $6 million this year — based on long-standing concerns that the committee has not had enough resources to keep up with the ballooning in- telligence agencies it oversees.
Chairman Devin Nunes, RCalif., testified in February that the committee needs to do more travel, hire more staff and “improve security for its own computer systems by phasing out old servers and strengthening Internet protection to reduce the risks of viruses, malware and intrusion by foreign actors.”
The budgets of the agencies the committee oversees — including the CIA and the National Security Agency — have grown to more than $70 billion annually, Nunes said, while the committee’s own budget is less than it was a decade ago.
The House Administration Committee, which approves the other committee’s budgets, has made cybersecurity a priority across the House, as officials have warned that Congress is deluged with spam and phishing attempts.
“Every office, every committee, every part of Capitol Hill is subject for attack by foreign governments, by individuals, people in this county who mean us harm,” House Administration Chairman Gregg Harper, RMiss., said in January. A top House official testified last year that about one-third of all emails received by the House in 2015 contained malware, viruses or spam.