The new Trump administration has ended all memberships on advisory committees under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Consistent with the commitment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to eliminate misuse of resources and to ensure that DHS activities prioritize our national security, I am issuing an executive order terminating all current memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately.” a. Benjamin S. Huffman said in a note dated Jan. 20, 2025.
“The committee’s future work will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission of protecting the homeland and supporting DHS’s strategic priorities.”
This includes members of the Cyber Security Review Board (CSRB) of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which last year issued scathing report condemning Microsoft for a “cascade” of avoidable mistakes that led to the abuse of its infrastructure by a Chinese nation-state group called Storm-0558 to hack into dozens of organizations in July 2023.
In July 2022 Mr published its findings about the vulnerabilities related to the Apache Log4j library and the steps taken to address them. He also described the Log4Shell flaw as an endemic flaw that will continue to plague organizations for years to come.
Then in August 2023. council examined intrusions linked to the cybercrime group LAPSUS$, calling it “efficiency, speed, creativity and boldness” and its ability to weaponize “a compendium of effective techniques.”
CHSR Bldg installed in February 2022 as a public-private initiative to assess significant cybersecurity developments and provide recommendations for improving cybersecurity and incident response methods. It is still unclear how the investigative body will be reformed.
According to an independent security journalist Eric GellerCSRB is said to have been in c the middle of the investigation in the recent wave of cyberattacks targeting US telecommunications providers. The activity was linked to a Chinese hacking group called Salt Typhoon.
Some of the other advisory boards that have been disbanded include the AI Safety and Security Council, the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and the USSS Cyber Investigations Advisory Council.
“This is a great gift to Chinese spies who have targeted top political figures,” said US Senator Ron Wyden. said in a message on Bluesky. “The killing of the board of directors that forced Microsoft to improve its cybersecurity looks for all the world like payback for Microsoft’s million-dollar gift to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.”
US President Donald Trump also revoked the decision of the Biden administration executive order on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Security, which, among other things, advocated for the safe, secure, and reliable development and use of the technology.
