Cunningham and Daniel Warn That Poor Leadership, Cuts Are Hurting US Cyber Posture
In the latest “Proof of Concept,” Michael Daniel of the Cyber Threat Alliance and former Forrester analyst Chase Cunningham joined editors from Information Security Media Group to examine how fractured leadership, shifting responsibilities and declining federal support are eroding U.S. cyber defenses.
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As the responsibility for protecting critical infrastructure moves from federal agencies to state governments, both experts warned that the U.S. is becoming increasingly vulnerable to nation-state adversaries and emboldened cybercriminals. Appointing political figures without technical expertise to lead cybersecurity roles is a dangerous trend, Cunningham said.
“We shouldn’t be appointing folks who don’t have a background in cyber to run cyber organizations,” said Cunningham, also known as the Doctor of Zero Trust. “The fact that we’re appointing people that are lawyers with no real history in cyber … is going to introduce exceptional risk.”
Daniel pointed to the widening gap between known cybersecurity solutions for the government and actual implementation, attributing it to weak political will. “The challenge is not figuring out what technologies to put in place,” he said. “It’s really a matter of the political will and putting the right incentive structures in place to encourage the kind of cybersecurity that we need.”
Cunningham and Daniel joined Anna Delaney, director, productions at ISMG, and Tom Field, senior vice president, editorial at ISMG – to discuss:
- How leadership gaps and delayed appointments disrupt national cyber readiness;
- The danger of pushing cybersecurity responsibilities to under-resourced states; and
- How advanced analytics and AI can help detect insider threats across federal systems.
Daniel leads the Cyber Threat Alliance team and oversees the organization’s operations. Prior to joining the CTA in February 2017, he served from June 2012 to January 2017 as special assistant to President Obama and Cybersecurity Coordinator on the National Security Council Staff. In this role, he led the development of national cybersecurity strategy and policy, and ensured that the U.S. government effectively partnered with the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other nations.
Cunningham, aka the Doctor of Zero Trust, is the vice president of security market research at G2. He previously served as an advisory board member of Akeyless and served as chief strategy officer at Ericom Software. He also served as vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. A retired U.S. Navy chief, Cunningham has over two decades of experience in cyber forensic and analytic operations and previously held senior security and analyst roles at the NSA, CIA, FBI and other government agencies, as well as at industry leader Accenture. He hosts the Dr. Zero Trust podcast.
Don’t miss our previous instalments of “Proof of Concept,” including the Jan. 7 edition on lessons from AI in 2024 and what’s ahead and the Mar. 6 edition on automating security safely with agentic AI.