Treasury’s Bessent backs Trump’s AI order, voluntary cyber callout

Source Domain: fedscoop.com

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday defended a new artificial intelligence executive order from the White House that recommends — but does not mandate — cooperation between the federal government and industry on a key cybersecurity measure.

The order, released Tuesday, directs the Treasury secretary to form an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse within 30 days, following consultation with the national cyber director, the Homeland Security and Defense secretaries, and the NSA and CISA directors.

The function of the clearinghouse, per the order, would be to coordinate and deconflict scanning for software vulnerabilities, discover and validate those vulnerabilities, and coordinate and prioritize remediation and distribution of patches.

However, the EO only calls for “voluntary collaboration with the AI industry and operators of critical infrastructure” on the clearinghouse. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., pressed Bessent on the issue.

“The idea that we’re going to have only a voluntary regime, I believe, will put our banking system at risk, [and] clearly our national security at risk,” said Warner, who called the delayed order a “watered-down” version of a draft he’d seen.

Bessent maintained that the only difference between Tuesday’s order and a previous draft from President Donald Trump was a tighter deadline for the creation of the clearinghouse, going from 90 days initially down to 30. Warner reiterated that the draft he’d seen was “stronger than strictly voluntary” on cyber participation from industry, before moving on to another line of questioning.

The cyber concerns raised by Warner were the tip of a tech-focused iceberg for the Virginia Democrat, who sent a letter to Bessent ahead of Wednesday’s hearing about the Treasury Department’s policies around agentic AI.

In the letter, Warner asked Bessent to work with stakeholders to “develop…

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