Eric Geller

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@blogfullofwords @BlueJaigEyes @Tcann13 and the post-screening hangout in Columbus Circle afterward to discuss what we'd just seen. good times. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@eleventhirtyate i wish i didn't know tbh — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

ICYMI, my story about the divide inside the Biden administration officials over the cyber incident reporting bill, with DOJ/FBI pushing for changes and saying the current bill would make the U.S. less safe. https://t.co/vi8pyblpan https://t.co/82JpZDqoKK — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@CMWAshby @ObsKenobs don't you have literally anything else to do — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@ObsKenobs 😘 — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@ObsKenobs just answer the question Jim — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@ObsKenobs finally i blow you a kiss or finally you can't see it? — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

@ObsKenobs jim I can't wait to see you and blow you a kiss that you can't see through my mask — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

U.S. Cyber Command has dispatched some of its cyber mission teams to help Ukraine fend off cyberattacks. Their operations center was recently moved out of the country, presumably to avoid any Russian attempts to disrupt Ukraine's comms networks. https://t.co/CSYBmuupjp https://t.co/pRP8KRf0MH — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

.@magmill95 reports (and I've heard the same) that the House and Senate agree on cyber incident reporting legislation, but that the Senate caught the House off-guard by passing its bill that also included FISMA and FedRAMP, sections that are now stalled. https://t.co/ordXwg9cdK https://t.co/rx5Bv4f40x — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Worth noting that, while DOJ/FBI and WH/CISA's positions on the bill conflict, they are being careful not to antagonize each other directly — and in fact, WH has said it's still interested in tweaks to the bill, and @CISAJen has stressed her agency's strong partnership with FBI. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

In my outreach to sources, I found few people sympathetic to DOJ/FBI. Most were shocked at how publicly the agencies are disagreeing. “Every administration has internal processes to referee interagency disputes,” @Kellen_Dwyer said, “but they seemed to have failed here.” — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Some went even further. @MarkCMontgomery said DOJ was demonstrating an "inability to absorb the decision that both the executive and legislative branches have come to about the centrality of DHS" in infrastructure protection, in which law enforcement equities are secondary. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

In this case, a former senior WH cyber official told me, DOJ's broadside against the bill was likely “spectacularly frustrating for the majority of agencies that feel differently than DOJ does and the White House staff that is trying to run a coherent decision-making process.” — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

During the Obama administration, for example, FBI Director James Comey went around demanding that lawmakers mandate encryption backdoors while Obama stayed silent and his aides fretted over what position to take on an issue that had divided law enforcement and Silicon Valley. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Setting aside the specifics of DOJ/FBI's complaints about the bill, there's some broader context here that many of my sources pointed out to me. The FBI has never been shy about wading into policy disputes, particularly when the White House has been relatively muted on them. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Don't count on the bill's sponsors to make either of these changes, though. An aide to Senate HSGAC Chair Gary Peters said that nothing in the bill would prevent companies from rapidly alerting the FBI to hacks, and that the program was focused on empowering CISA. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Notably, this is a shift from the FBI's position last November, when it said the new incident reporting program must send reports jointly to CISA and FBI. "There’s no desire to take anything at all away from CISA that this statute gives it," the FBI official told me. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

DOJ's second issue with the bill relates to a provision banning incident reports from being used in court proceedings. The FBI official said this could prevent agents from presenting the evidence needed to secure warrants for server takedowns or cryptocurrency seizures. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

The official said the law would lead to businesses only reporting to CISA and CISA sharing with the FBI at whatever speed it could, which would still be slower than FBI agents directly meeting with businesses. I pressed for evidence that this would happen and got none. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

The official told me that if companies can get immunity from certain lawsuits while reporting incidents to CISA but not while meeting with FBI agents, company lawyers will push executives to only do the former, jeopardizing FBI's hard-won relationships with key businesses. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

DOJ hasn't explained its objections publicly, but a bureau official told me they're twofold: First, the FBI wants companies that sit down with agents during an incident to receive same liability protections as companies that submit written reports to CISA per the new program. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

"It’s disappointing to see the FBI take a bureaucratic dispute public under the guise of a serious threat to public safety,” @CyberStatecraft's Trey Herr said. “The optics are certainly awkward at best,” added @Travis55DC. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

To recap: WH has endorsed the bill, CISA's director says it's urgently needed, deputy AG and FBI director say it has serious flaws and would make the country less safe. These conflicting messages come as experts say it's critical for the U.S. to present a united front on cyber. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

New: My look at the split between DOJ/FBI and WH/CISA on the cyber incident reporting bill that the Senate passed last week. Is it a threat to the country or a crucial tool for fighting hackers? Biden officials can't seem to agree. https://t.co/vi8pyb3OiP https://t.co/mrNNGKaV5M — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

An ominous line: "So far, Russian forces have been so preoccupied in other parts of the country that they have not targeted the [U.S.] arms supply lines, but few think that can last." https://t.co/CSYBmuupjp — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Every time I see a photo like this, I think about how the leader of the Republican Party has expressed gushing admiration for the man who's doing this. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

Russia is now trying to disrupt Ukraine's communications systems, the British government assesses. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

this seems uh not good https://t.co/y3G4Os34GI — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Geller @ericgeller

https://t.co/qJZ0rQW6no https://t.co/g36jQRi69k — PolitiTweet.org