Lawmakers Grill Agencies Over Contradictory Cyber Budget Cuts
A parliamentary committee member questioned Thailand's cybersecurity and digital government agencies over fiscal year 2570 budget contradictions, including a 30% cut to cyber operations while personnel costs jumped 87% in two years, and ove
On July 7, 2025, at parliament during a special budget committee session reviewing the fiscal 2025 appropriations bill, Democrat Party member Watanya Bunnak questioned two national digital and cybersecurity agencies—the National Cyber Security Committee (NCSC) and the Digital Government Development Agency (DGA)—over budget allocation transparency, cost-effectiveness, and potential redundancy.
Bunnak's investigation found the NCSC's overall budget was reduced 20% from 541 million baht to 440 million baht, consistent with government-wide cuts. However, detailed scrutiny revealed striking contradictions between operational and personnel budgets. Cybersecurity operations conducted jointly with other agencies were slashed over 30%—from 149.7 million baht to 98.19 million baht—while personnel costs jumped from 99 million to 129 million baht, a 30% increase. Compared to fiscal 2023's 69 million baht baseline, personnel spending has nearly doubled—a 87% increase—within just two years.
Bunnak questioned why staffing and personnel budgets have grown dramatically while overall operations have contracted, and whether this undermines cybersecurity objectives. She requested clarification on key performance indicators (KPIs) for strengthening 300 national agencies, questioning whether standards truly reflect capability or merely count participating organizations.
Bunnak also flagged redundancy concerns regarding government cloud infrastructure. The DGA allocated 106.7 million baht for cloud procurement, maintenance, and VPN connectivity under a digital government integration plan. However, the Digital Economy Ministry (DE) has established a separate cloud procurement project valued at 4,980 million baht under the same digital integration framework. Bunnak demanded both agencies clarify their distinct roles in serving as central data platforms and explain how they will prevent budget overlap and contradictions going forward.
