Washington, June 26 : The Trump administration plans to rebuild the US government's cyber defence agency and strengthen its ability to counter increasingly sophisticated cyber threats from China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told lawmakers.

Testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Mullin said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) would play a central role in protecting government networks, businesses and critical infrastructure from foreign cyber attacks.

"We have adversaries that are attacking not just our government, but attacking our businesses every single day," Mullin said. "The one that has that authority to do it is CISA."

He acknowledged that the agency had lost direction in recent years but said the administration intended to rebuild it.

"It probably got a bad rap because it wasn't utilising its authority," Mullin said. "We're hiring the best people."

Mullin said the administration planned to appoint new leadership and recruit additional specialists to restore the agency's capabilities.

"We want to stand it up and be not just average," he said. "We want to be the go person for cybersecurity in the nation."

He said DHS believed CISA was operating at roughly half the staffing level it required.

"Do we need to hire everybody back? No. Do we need to hire about 600 people back? Yes."

The secretary said rebuilding the agency would take time.

"Once he's in place, it's going to take me probably 12 months to build this back," Mullin said, referring to the incoming CISA director.

He also urged closer cooperation between government and the private sector, arguing that technology companies could not confront state-sponsored cyber threats on their own.

"We can't expect Meta or Google to do it on their own," Mullin said. "They're fighting an army."

He said DHS was also reviewing its own internal regulations to remove bureaucratic obstacles that slowed cyber operations.

Mullin added that DHS might eventually seek additional guidance from Congress as artificial intelligence and rapidly evolving cyber technologies created new legal and operational challenges.

Cybersecurity has become a central element of US national security strategy as governments and private companies face increasingly sophisticated attacks targeting critical infrastructure, financial systems, healthcare networks and government agencies.

The United States has steadily expanded cooperation with allies, including India, on cybersecurity, critical technologies and the protection of digital infrastructure. Cyber resilience has also become an increasingly important pillar of the broader US strategy to secure emerging technologies and counter state-sponsored cyber threats.

/IANS