Leidos CEO Tom Bell described how the company works to help the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other federal and private-sector entities protect critical U.S. infrastructure from a growing number of cyber threats during a Breitbart News discussion on border security, public safety, and American sovereignty.
Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle asked Bell about CISA’s cybersecurity mission and what the agency should prioritize as threats to American technological infrastructure expand, including potential threats involving artificial intelligence (AI) particularly from China.
“Little tip of the hat: President Trump in Trump 45 created CISA, and it was genius to do so because he recognized early that there was a significant cybersecurity threat to our nation’s critical infrastructure, and he formed an organization to do something about it,” Bell said.
“What was the something? It was to bring together the best understanding of what the threats were, and then to operationalize how we counter those threats,” he continued.
“The fact is, ever since that eight years ago, well, six years ago, I guess, or so, those threats have multiplied,” Bell said. “It’s not that the threats have become more adroit; it’s that there are now more players who can be credible threat actors.”
“So it’s not so much that the critical infrastructure of the United States is under a more sophisticated attack per se. It’s that more attackers can be attacking that surface space,” he continued.
“And so what we need to do as a nation, and what I know Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin is very focused on is reinvigorating CISA to form a coalition, because as you very well know, our nation’s critical infrastructure is a very federated space with private utilities,” Bell said. “Every municipality has their own water and wastewater treatment plant. All of those are vulnerable.”
“We need to raise the standards for all of those critical infrastructure sites, so that every American can, on any given morning, turn on the water and take a shower, or at night turn on the heater to stay warm,” he continued. “It’s that simple, and it’s going to require a federal approach to raising the standards so that all those infrastructure companies can invest appropriately in the solutions that are credible, and we bring to them.”
“What’s important about this aspect, Matt, is in order to understand what the threats are, you also have to be a player in what we call full spectrum cyber,” Bell said. “Our work as Leidos in the intelligence community allows us to understand what full spectrum cyber is, both offensive and defensive.”
“And so, in order to defend your critical infrastructure, you have to have a very keen understanding of what the vulnerabilities are that the bad actors will be trying to exploit,” he continued.
“And so, Leidos is in a key position to help CISA, the Department of Homeland Security, energy companies around the nation, utility companies around the nation, secure their infrastructure against cyber attacks,” Bell said.