Trump Fires Cyber Safety Board Investigating Salt Typhoon HackersTrump Fires Cyber Safety Board Investigating Salt Typhoon Hackers

NEWS BRIEF

Chris Krebs just got let go for the second time by President Trump.

In its first full day, the Trump administration axed all advisory committee members within the Department of Homeland Security, including the people that make up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). The CSRB was actively working on investigating Salt Typhoon, the Chinese state-sponsored hacking group responsible for breaches of at least nine telecommunications networks in the past several months.

In a letter dated Jan. 20, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Benjamine C. Huffman said the move was meant to avoid a "misuse of resources," and terminated all current memberships on advisory committees immediately.

Dismissed members of the CSRB include a who's who of cybersecurity, from companies such as Sentinel One, represented by former CISA head Chris Krebs, who was fired in 2020 as head of CISA in the waning days of the previous Trump administration. The CSRB also included several former Biden administration officials. It was created as part of Biden's 2021 cybersecurity executive order to "review and assess ... significant cyber incidents" impacting the federal executive branch of the US government.

The future existence of the CSRB is unclear. While the letter did not enumerate which committees might be reconstituted with new participants, it did add that, in general, dismissed DHS committee members are welcome to reapply to DHS in the future, according to a copy of the letter shared by Eric Geller on X.

"Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS's strategic priorities," the letter read before thanking the outgoing members for their service.