DHS to Relaunch Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Partnership with New Council

The Department of Homeland Security will reestablish a key cybersecurity information-sharing council to coordinate defense efforts across critical infrastructure sectors, replacing a previously shuttered entity.

Editorial Team · Jun 30, 2026 · 2 min read · Source: cyberscoop.com

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is set to launch a new cybersecurity council aimed at enhancing collaboration between government agencies and critical infrastructure operators. This initiative will revive the coordination role vacated when the previous advisory body was disbanded over a year ago.

Named the Alliance of National Councils for Homeland Operational Resilience – Critical Infrastructure program (ANCHOR-CI), the new council will facilitate communication between federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government representatives and private sector entities that manage essential services like water, power, telecommunications, and internet networks.

ANCHOR-CI is designed to substitute for the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC), a federal advisory committee that previously enabled collaboration among the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the intelligence community, and critical infrastructure owners. CIPAC’s dissolution left many operators without a formal channel for government engagement on cyber threats.

CISA will manage the new council, selecting members from various industry groups, trade associations, and governmental levels. ANCHOR-CI's structure will comprise four types of councils, including:

Sector-specific councils focused on federally designated critical infrastructure sectors.
Cross-sector councils addressing emerging cyber threats such as zero-day vulnerabilities.
Industry councils representing individual critical infrastructure fields.
Regional coordinating councils to address local and territorial concerns.

One notable change from the prior arrangement is that ANCHOR-CI’s meetings will be exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s public transparency requirements. DHS justified this exemption by emphasizing the sensitive nature of cybersecurity discussions, which require a secure environment for sharing threat assessments and mitigation strategies.

The reinstatement of this information-sharing platform responds to concerns from critical infrastructure operators who felt caught off guard when CIPAC was disbanded. The absence of a formal forum raised worries about decreased government-private sector coordination amid growing cyber risks to essential services.