The number two official at the Justice Department (DoJ) warned today that the pending government shutdown is “quite dangerous and quite irresponsible” in terms of the effect it would have on the nation’s ability to defend against cyber threats.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a Washington Post Live event on Sept. 26 that a government shutdown would “absolutely” have real effects on law enforcement in the United States.
“First of all, it’s irresponsible because it really will impact our ability to do our job across the board,” Monaco said. “Folks who have life and safety missions will continue to do their work, but all of the support that they have, all of the work that we do and that we fund with our state and local partners – when we talk about violent crime, the lion’s share of that work to combat violent crime is being done by our state and local law enforcement partners.”
“Ability to fund those efforts, to work in partnership, all of that is dramatically reduced and hindered by a government shutdown,” she continued, adding, “So, it’s irresponsible across the board.”
“The people who are manning our cyber defenses, the cascading effects of something like this is really I think quite dangerous and quite irresponsible, and we need to be able to give our employees certainty that they can come to work and do their jobs,” the DoJ official said.
With the government on the brink of a shutdown as Congress remains at an impasse on funding beyond this weekend, the Office of Management and Budget formally initiated the process of preparing for a potential shutdown on Friday, Sept. 22.
Government services would be disrupted and hundreds of thousands of Federal workers furloughed without pay if Congress fails to provide funding for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Workers deemed “essential” – like many of those at the DoJ – would remain on the job, but without pay.
According to the DoJ’s shutdown plan for last fiscal year, only 15 percent of its employees would be furloughed during a lapse in funding – meaning a large majority of the department’s employees would continue to work should a government shutdown occur at the end of this week.
“[A] significant portion of the Department’s mission relates to the safety of human life and the protection of property, and primarily for this reason, the Department has a high percentage of activities and employees that are excepted from the Antideficiency Act restrictions and can continue during a lapse in appropriations,” the DoJ’s fiscal year 2022 contingency plan states.
Similarly, cybersecurity experts across the private sector expressed concerns last week that a Federal government shutdown would have major negative impacts on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) ability to defend Federal networks and keep its critical cyber programs running.
“This shutdown will obviously cause delays, and some cyber projects will come to a halt,” the president of cybersecurity firm Armis, Brian Gumbel, told House lawmakers on Sept. 19. “The longer we delay, the longer the adversaries will have the chance to get in front of us. So, delays are just terrible for this nation, and it’s going to cause some major impact.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s shutdown plan released today, only 571 of CISA’s 3,117 employees would continue to work through a government shutdown.
