The committee was concerned that the previous administration had not effectively addressed the cybersecurity threat posed by the China-backed hacking group.
The House Homeland Security Committee on Monday requested that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provide all documents related to the agency’s response to telecommunications hacking incidents, including China-backed cybergroup bolt and salt typhoons.
The committee said it oversees the government’s response to a “malicious cyber campaign” that China’s hacking groups have committed against critical U.S. infrastructure, according to a letter obtained by Epoch Times.
Lawmakers said they are concerned that the previous administration had not effectively addressed the cybersecurity threat posed by the Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups.
“Even though we have warnings about bolt and salt typhoons, we still know little about them, particularly revealing that bolt typhoons continue to compromise on our critical infrastructure,” they said.
The letter was signed by House Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-Tenn.) and two subcommittee chairs.
The committee asked DHS Chief Christa Noem to take over by March 31st. All emails and internal memos were related to the Bolt and salt typhoons dating back to January 20, 2021, when the Biden administration took office.
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The previous administration had delayed salt-type briefings for about a month before the Wall Street Journal published a report on the hackers’ activities, according to the letter.
“These threat actors pose important challenges that cannot be addressed overnight,” he said. “However, the Biden administration’s lack of transparency over the federal response to the Bolt and Salt typhoon was unacceptable and confused.”
The committee sought information about the cybersecurity threats and damages caused by the two hacking groups, and when it first noticed the timeline of government response to intrusions.
The lawmakers also requested agency documentation detailing “actions taken by relevant agencies/sectors, industry stakeholders, victims and other related parties” after the threat was detected.
The Epoch Times reached out to DHS for comments but did not receive a reply by publication time.
Another Chinese hacking group, Volt Typhoon, began targeting a wide network across the US critical infrastructure organization in 2021. Microsoft flagged the group’s activities in 2023, saying that China-based actors were mainly spying and collecting information about their targets.
The recommendation warned that Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors “need to pre-locate networks for destructive or destructive cyberattacks on the critical U.S. infrastructure in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States.”
Benjamine Huffman’s DHS Executive Director General said in the memo that the move is consistent with the department’s commitment to end “resource misuse” and ensure that DHS’ activities prioritize national security.
Eva Fu and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
