A December news release from Sen. John Cornyn felt like a missive from another time. It announced that Cornyn had introduced a bill to reauthorize funding for a cybersecurity grant program that helps state and local governments better defend against online attacks. The legislation even had a Democratic sponsor, Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.
The release was so matter-of-fact, so normal. An elected official had noticed a problem — the vulnerability of local governments to cyber attacks — and devised a partial solution. It is the type of government action we want: relevant, practical and bipartisan.
The five-paragraph release briefly explained the history of the program and included a quote from Cornyn. It noted that Texas received almost $13 million through the program in fiscal year 2024, and a total of about $40 million since its launch. The grant program is the kind of necessary government this newspaper supports.
But when we emailed and called various state and federal offices to learn more about the grant program, the pleasant nostalgia for normal government of old faded away. No one would answer a simple question: Could you identify a few local governments or state agencies in Texas that have received these grants in the past? Ideally, once we knew the names of a few grant recipients, we could call and ask how their organizations’ cybersecurity efforts had benefited from the funding.
Opinion
It would be unwise to endorse the grant program without knowing how past grants were used. What if a town had received $200,000 to send its council members to Bali for a three-day “cybersecurity retreat”?
We weren’t looking for detailed explanations of the government agencies’ vulnerabilities. We only needed general responses, such as “our water plant’s monitoring system required cybersecurity upgrades” or “our front-line customer service staff needed more intense, in-person cybersecurity training.”
We contacted the Department of Information Resources and the governor’s office, the two agencies most directly involved with the grants, and requested the names of a few recipients. We were directed to a state website that describes funding opportunities.
We asked again, and were told that the newspaper would have to submit a formal public information request. That’s a bureaucratic process that is usually invoked for longer, investigative stories. Someone has to review the request, determine whether the information exists, and either compile and provide it or appeal the request.
The process should not be required for routine information that already exists. It’s a waste of resources, like forcing someone to drive from Dallas to Fort Worth via Hillsboro even when there’s a perfectly serviceable freeway that goes directly from Big D to where the west begins.
We had no choice, though, if we wanted the information. We filed the open records request and will let you know the result.
Meanwhile, maybe your government is working for you? We just don’t know.
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