TA-TA FOR NOW — In his closing act as Congressman and Chair of the House Select committee on China, Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) fired a parting shot about the existential cyber threat America faces from Beijing’s hackers. “The Chinese government is prepositioning on networks across this nation with the clear intent to cause maximum destruction and societal chaos at a time of their choosing,” Gallagher said to Morning Cyber when asked about his staying China concerns now that he’s leaving Congress. — Enemy No. 1: His blunt assessment came moments after the House overwhelmingly passed Gallagher’s and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi’s (D-Ill.) joint legislation to force the sale of TikTok from the United States over national security concerns, which was tied to Saturday’s sweeping aid package for Ukraine and Israel. It also comes on the heels of a star-studded testimony earlier this year from administration officials who briefed the committee on the cyber capabilities and suspect intentions of China’s increasingly brazen hacking operations — notably Volt Typhoon infiltrating American systems. And things may only be getting more drastic, now that Chinese President Xi Jinping reorganized their military for the first time in nearly 10 years to create separate information, space and cyber forces — all aimed at giving China an advantage in modern warfare, which is increasingly focused on information dominance. “The digital world brings a daily contest in cyberspace to American soil, where all Americans are on the frontline,” Gallagher said. “The stakes could not be higher.” — Plans on pause?: Following that blockbuster late January hearing, Krishnamoorthi said the duo had been reinvigorated to push bipartisan efforts against Chinese hackers, including moving a bill to rip and replace Chinese telecommunications tech from U.S. systems using unused Covid funds. Gallagher at the time told a pool of reporters that the committee was working to advance 20 policy recommendations to boost cyber defenses against Beijing’s cyber threats. But with Gallagher out of the picture, the fate of those plans are unclear. — What the future holds: Republicans are passing the baton to Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.). Though he lacks Gallagher’s high profile on cyber issues, the new chair has indicated he plans to stay the course in pulling the cover off China’s cyberattacks on America. “We experienced hacking at the highest levels of the federal government,” Moolenaar said in an interview with Michigan Public Radio early April, referencing the Commerce and State Department email attacks. “So a lot of nefarious activity that we need to continue to expose.” The changing of the guard may not derail the committee's momentum. The buzz around town is that the new chair is a smart pick to maintain the bipartisan vibes Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi carved out, while keeping Beijing’s malicious cyber antics squarely in the crosshairs. And because he isn’t retiring, Moolenaar’s leadership selection could signal the select committee’s continued presence in future Congress, said Mark Montgomery, executive director of the influential Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0. “I think he would continue the committee's current agenda that has really put China, and especially its malicious cyber activity, front and center and has worked to improve the government's readiness to deal with CCP threats,” Montgomery tells MC. IT’S TIME TO ANSWER — House Energy and Commerce leaders are hauling in the chief executive of UnitedHealth Group next month to get answers about February's massive cyberattack on the health giant's payment processing subsidiary. Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) announced ahead of the weekend that UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty will testify at a May 1 oversight hearing about the hacking incident that devastated Change Healthcare's platforms. — Still seething: The cyber breach at the major health IT vendor left doctors, hospitals and millions of patients unable to access medical records and process insurance claims for weeks. While operations have largely resumed, lawmakers remain livid over the attack's disruptions and potential threats to patient safety. "Americans are still dealing with the fallout of the Change Healthcare hack. Individuals and smaller providers, in particular, have struggled financially following the cyberattack, threatening critical access for patients," Rodgers and Griffith said in a joint statement on Friday. — What you can expect: In a blistering mid-April letter, Rodgers, Griffith, subcommittee on health chair Brett Guthrie (R-K.Y.) and their committee’s top Democrats demanded UnitedHealth turn over records and a timeline related to the hacking, pushing for more information on the perpetrators and the company's initial response. Some of those big questions include:
- A detailed timeline of when the breach was first detected and the company's response to contain it
- Whether protected health data was compromised and how customers were notified
- Findings from UnitedHealth's internal probe into the attack
- Cybersecurity processes before and after acquiring Change Healthcare last year
The Republican chairs noted they hope to learn more details from Witty about what happened in the lead up to and in the weeks following the attack, as the committee weighs potential cybersecurity reforms. | 
