DHS asks cybersecurity staff to volunteer for border help

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is asking its cybersecurity-focused employees to consider taking on new roles by volunteering to help with the border crisis.

Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan told House lawmakers Wednesday that employees in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have been asked to consider relocating to the U.S.-Mexico border, but he insisted he would not support sending “critical” cyber staff to the region.

“I am aware of the call for volunteers to help address the border crisis, just as we would do in a natural disaster. Our expectation, though, is that CISA would make risk-based decisions on the types of professionals they would free up for this kind of mission and balance against their day jobs and their current focus,” McAleenan said in a response to a question about the volunteer drive from Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) at a Homeland Security Committee hearing on the DHS fiscal 2020 budget request.

McAleenan added that he would “not want the CISA leadership to deploy critical cybersecurity professionals in this role if they have mission support professionals, attorneys or others who could be spared to support this effort. We would welcome that, but that is for their management and leadership to handle.”

Another DHS official told The Hill that each DHS volunteer at the border allows an extra Customs and Border Protection or ICE agent “to perform border security duties.”

McAleenan said that regardless of which DHS agency a volunteer comes from, there will be “training for anyone who is directly engaging with migrants.”