U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines today questioned President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, General John F. Kelly during the nomination hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Following breaches at both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Managment (OPM), Daines asked Kelly how he would protect Americans sensitive information from a cyberattack.
“General Kelly, as we discussed, I spent 28 years in the private sector, ten of them with a global cloud computing company,” Daines remarked to Kelly. “We faced cyber threats daily, and our customers expected security of their data. We delivered, not once was our data compromised – then I came to the federal government and received one of the letters from OPM. As Secretary, how will you counter these cyber threats to protect our nation’s and people’s sensitive information?”
“At this point in time, it’s in everyone’s interest whether its personal security or corporate security – certainly U.S. security everyone realizes that working together makes an awful lot of sense,” Kelly responded. “I think just more cooperation amongst the private sector and the federal sector I think that will go a long way.”
Daines also talked with Kelly about Montana’s robust agriculture sector and asked him how to address staffing challenges at the Port of Raymond in Plentywood. He also followed up about robust refugee vetting.
Yesterday, Daines met with Kelly in his Washington, D.C. office. During the meeting Kelly committed to coming to Montana to tour the northern border.
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