At the National Association of State Chief Information Officers Annual Conference this week, North Carolina CIO James Weaver — also NASCIO’s incoming president for 2024 — said making sure the local government projects they’re supporting aren’t one-off efforts is crucial to ensuring long-term cyber strength. He described the grants as “augmenting” North Carolina’s current security efforts.
The state is well positioned to figure out how to distribute its $26 million share of the federal money through existing partnerships put in place by North Carolina’s Joint Cybersecurity Task Force. Weaver sits on that coalition along with representatives from the state’s emergency management team, plus federal and local agencies. The group is charged with cyber incident response statewide as well as determining the best way to allocate grants.
Making sure the current influx of federal funding provides sustainable benefits is top of mind for state CIOs when it comes to cybersecurity. The cyber grant program will span four years, but jurisdictions at all levels will need well-funded security efforts beyond that, given the ever-evolving threat landscape.
“Especially as we’re working with our local government partners and as they’re putting in their projects for [grants] consideration — and very good projects — we want to make sure it’s not a one-and-done,” Weaver said.
