i nitr germs %rnatr WASHINGTON DC 20510 May 24 2018 The President The White House 1600 Avenue Washington DC 20500 Dear Mr President We write today to express our concern regarding the decision to eliminate the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator position in the National Security Council We believe that the nature of the cyber threats facing our nation their increasing number and the dif cult policy questions they raise lend themselves to a centralized Administration approach In our view an empowered cybersecurity coordinator is needed to drive and oversee a comprehensive White House-issued cybersecurity strategy to include deterrence defense and network resilience that coordinates US government efforts across the various departments and agencies We urge you to prioritize completion and announcement of our nation s cybersecurity strategy as soon as possible and we would welcome the opportunity to work with you to put in place such a strategy A comprehensive cybersecurity strategy would align our government s resources more effectively against threats to our critical infrastructure so that our adversaries are less likely to take action against US interests and less successful when they move forward with an operation Such a strategy could also improve coordination with our allies to deter nefarious activity and de ne and promote norms favorable to U S interests In addition a whole- of-government cybersecurity strategy could help facilitate engagement between the private and public sector to make the country cyber infrastructure more resilient and secure Thank you for your attention to this important matter Bipartisan support exists in the Senate for rolling out a cybersecurity strategy as soon as possible We look forward to discussing with you how policymakers can best engage with your Administration on a comprehensive strategy to protect against the cyber threats facing the country Sincerely Susan M Collins Martin Heinrich United States Senator United States Senator