CISA no more? Rand Paul has a plan, and it’s not good for US cyber defenders

US Senator Rand Paul is famous for his wacky quotes, stubbornness, and never-ending failure to implement his libertarian ideas – until now. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) might be doomed.

After Republicans clinched control of the US Senate, Paul is set to take over as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Among other responsibilities, the latter oversees America’s cyber agency CISA. Paul has long had concerns about that particular government organization and its efforts to counter disinformation, especially around the 2020 US presidential election.

“I’d like to eliminate it,” Paul told POLITICO Thursday. “The First Amendment is pretty important, that’s why we listed it as the First Amendment, and I would have liked to, at the very least, eliminate their ability to censor content online.”

The Republican from the deep-red state of Kentucky has long blamed the US government for allegedly censoring speech and regulating the flow of information online.

The Washington Post has previously reported that Paul had opposed at least 11 Senate bills that addressed cybersecurity in some part.

“I cannot support expanding CISA’s authorities while it surveils and censors Americans,” Paul said at a June 2023 committee meeting before telling The Post that CISA was “colluding” with big tech companies. The agency has consistently refuted such claims.

Last year, he also expressed concern over CISA’s 50% budget growth since the agency’s creation in 2018 in order to monitor and prevent cyberattacks in and out of government.

Then-president Trump mandated the creation of CISA but fired the agency’s chief after it said in a statement that the 2020 election was secure. Narratives about that particular election being “stolen” are still pushed by the MAGA wing of the Republican party.

Before this year’s election, CISA concentrated more on broader cybersecurity initiatives and responses to major foreign state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting US federal systems.

According to POLITICO, Paul doesn’t think this is enough. He told the outlet he thought CISA was too “intrusive. " Besides, America survived without the agency just fine.

Still, in that same interview Paul indicated it was unlikely he’d be able to eliminate CISA entirely.

That’s because his plan will likely be met with furious resistance from House and Senate Democrats, and since cybersecurity is more bipartisan of an issue than many others, quite a few Republicans will also object to the agency's full elimination.