Security News > 2020 > November > Industry Reactions to Trump Firing CISA Director Chris Krebs: Feedback Friday
"While the presence or absence of one individual or entity only has a limited effect on the overall risk posture of our nation, to be sure, without the kind of transformative leadership that Chris Krebs showed as the leader of a new agency in CISA and his effort to promote collective defense capabilities across the public and private sectors, we could go back to the historical siloed approach of defense limiting the progress we've made in recent years. Our adversaries are going to be punching from all angles and coming at us in an organized manner, so we also need to defend in the same way."
"While unlikely that the firing of the CISA Director will inspire cyber attacks from abroad on critical infrastructure in the US because systems appear more vulnerable today than yesterday, industry partners, observers, and US citizens certainly will be skeptical of any statements made by CISA about the election or anything else between now and January 2021.".
"Supporters of the President will have bought in to his claims of CISA and its Director having failed completely and lied about election security. And detractors of the President will assume that anyone who accepts such a tenuous appointment by the lame duck President as the new Director will be complicit in his claims. Until the Biden administration can take over, the best outcome for now would be an interim appointment of someone within CISA who built the Agency together with Krebs."
"There have been a lot of questions about roles and responsibilities across the government including where CISA fits in and where they don't. There have been no questions on Chris Krebs' effectiveness. He focused on what he needed to focus on. He led his team with dignity. He was a public figure representing the agency in the community. And when the nation needed CISAs attention on protecting our voting and fundamentals of democracy he did with zeal and expertise. The next administration should keep Chris if he's willing to stay and regardless folks should be thankful for his time there."
"It is up to CISA to help America understand cybersecurity threats and misinformation. Christopher Krebs is utterly nonpartisan and he deserves his CISA post in every way. He has earned the nation's trust and faith, and worked tirelessly to help secure the current election cycle. We owe him an enormous debt of gratitude."