Cybersecurity Policy Report, DHS Needs to Help States Defend Against AI-Powered Hacking, Schumer Says, (May 8, 2026)
The Department of Homeland Security needs to expand its outreach to state and local governments that face new cyber threats from frontier AI (artificial intelligence) models, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.).
“Since Anthropic announced Claude Mythos Preview about a month ago, the world has been coming to grips with the fact that advanced AI models will rapidly surpass humans in their ability to find and exploit software vulnerabilities,” Sen. Schumer said in a letter sent yesterday to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“Frontier AI models like Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber bring a level of coding capability that will allow them to identify and fix vulnerabilities in digital systems that are critical to SLTT [state, local, tribal, and territorial] governments, such as hospitals, energy grids, water infrastructure, school systems, election systems, telecommunications, and other critical infrastructure,” he noted.
“At the same time, malicious actors—such as criminal and state-backed hacking groups—will inevitably use frontier AI to supercharge their attacks on these same systems. This is a race between cybersecurity defenders and AI-enabled hacking—and there’s no time to waste,” he warned.
Anthropic and OpenAI have restricted the release of their latest models out of concerns about their misuse. A select group of government agencies and tech firms have been given access to the models for, among other things, finding and patching software vulnerabilities (CPR, April 8).
“Such collaboration is critical, but it does not adequately account for the SLTT governments who are responsible for operating, updating, and securing critical infrastructure on a daily basis. This need is particularly vital for small and rural jurisdictions lacking extensive in-house cybersecurity resources,” Sen. Schumer said.
He added that it was “glaringly obvious that the Department of Homeland Security needs an updated plan for coordinating these efforts with SLTT governments.”
He criticized DHS and the Trump administration for eliminating funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the entity designated by DHS to help state and local governments with cybersecurity (CPR, Sept. 30, 2025).
“Given the monumental changes quickly coming to cybersecurity as the result of frontier AI, and the need for organizations to be able to perceive and contextualize risks earlier than ever before, there could not be a worse time to undercut proven, longstanding MS-ISAC processes, procedures, and resources for sharing cyberthreat intelligence with SLTTs,” Sen. Schumer said.
“I request that you provide Congress with a plan for coordinating our nation’s response to frontier AI-enabled hacking by July 1, 2026. I ask that this plan provide ... clear information for SLTTs to use in urgently preparing for these unparalleled changes before it is too late,” he told Secretary Mullin.
Sen. Schumer also noted that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had been without a Senate-confirmed director since the start of President Trump’s second term. Sean Plankey recently dropped out of the running for the job after 13 months of awaiting Senate confirmation (CPR, April 23).
“As of today, the President has not even identified a nominee,” he said. “Assigning qualified leadership to CISA and getting the Agency’s house in order to prepare for the rapid acceleration of frontier AI-enabled hacking should be central to your planning.”
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