{"id":3594,"date":"2025-04-10T23:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T23:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/10\/trump-administration-undermines-u-s-cybersecurity-amid-rising-global-threats\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T23:23:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T23:23:24","slug":"trump-administration-undermines-u-s-cybersecurity-amid-rising-global-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/10\/trump-administration-undermines-u-s-cybersecurity-amid-rising-global-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Undermines U.S. Cybersecurity Amid Rising Global Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As foreign cyberattacks intensify, the American flag itself appears to glitch\u2014visually echoing a national security posture unraveling from within. Observer Labs<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why is the White House degrading U.S. cybersecurity as unprecedented threats keep rising? Judging by its rhetoric, the second Trump administration is committed to protecting Americans online from foreign spies and criminals. In her recent\u00a0statement\u00a0to the Senate Intelligence Committee<\/a>, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard<\/a> blamed China for \u201cmultiple high-profile breaches\u201d of U.S. IT networks, while citing Russia and Iran as other top-rank cyber threats. Gabbard fingered that \u201cnon-state cybercriminals are also targeting our economic interests, critical infrastructure and advanced commercial capability for extortion, other coercive pursuits and financial gain.\u201d President Donald Trump<\/a> recently signed<\/a>\u00a0executive orders promoting America\u2019s resilience against cyberattacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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However, Trump 2.0\u2019s actions tell a different story. Last week\u2019s unprecedented firing of the director of the National Security Agency, Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh<\/a> (who was dual-hatted as the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command), and his deputy, Wendy Noble<\/a>, raises awkward questions about the White House\u2019s true agenda here. The administration has offered no explanation for the dual termination, in which controversial MAGA activist Laura Loomer<\/a> played a prominent role, accusing Haugh and Noble of undefined disloyalty to Trump<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That mysterious NSA purge, which has no parallel in our Intelligence Community\u2019s history,\u00a0\u00a0earned criticism from many sides. Democrats predictably castigated the firings. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner<\/a>, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee,\u00a0pointedly accused\u00a0the White House<\/a>, as we face \u201ccyber threats from foreign adversaries\u2026Given the dangers facing the United States, it is inexplicable that the Administration would remove the senior leaders of NSA-CYBERCOM without cause or warning, and risk disrupting critical ongoing intelligence operations.\u201d Yet Republican Rep. Don Bacon<\/a> of Nebraska sounded similar,\u00a0asserting<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cRussia and China are laughing at us today\u201d over the inexplicable purge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CYBERCOM is the Pentagon\u2019s point of the spear in worldwide cyber operations, while NSA is responsible for protecting classified U.S. IT networks from foreign espionage and hacking. Weakening them by purging their leadership without clear cause is difficult to explain in normal political terms. Cybersecurity has traditionally been a subject enjoying broad bipartisan agreement in our nation\u2019s capital regarding objectives and funding them. But not anymore.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither is this just a government problem. NSA and CYBERCOM protect our national security, but Trump\u2019s offensive against American cybersecurity will soon impact average citizens in their daily lives. Now, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency finds itself in the White House\u2019s crosshairs too. While little known outside tech-savvy circles, CISA has the important mission of bolstering online security and resilience not just in Washington, D.C., but across the country. Since its creation in 2018, by expanding an office that had resided in the Department of Homeland Security for a decade already, CISA serves as the public face of cybersecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As such, CISA offers a\u00a0wide range\u00a0of services<\/a> to American businesses to improve their security against hacking and related cyberattacks. A high percentage of the U.S. economy is deemed to be\u00a0\u201ccritical infrastructure\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by CISA, ranging from energy to finance to healthcare, and that agency stands ready to help American firms defend themselves against global bad actors online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inexplicably, the Trump administration wants to cut CISA\u2019s workforce by up\u00a0to one-third<\/a>, without delay. Such a reduction would functionally cripple CISA cyber defense activities in most sectors, while posing\u00a0serious risks<\/a>\u00a0to U.S. election integrity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team Trump seems to possess animus towards cybersecurity, and some of it appears personal. This week, the White House announced an\u00a0executive order\u00a0that targets Chris Krebs<\/a>, who was the founding CISA director during Trump\u2019s first term. This is a plain vendetta, with the president publicly terming Krebs a \u201ctraitor\u201d while stripping him of his security clearances and opening an investigation into Krebs\u2019 conduct as CISA boss. Krebs was appointed by Trump himself, yet his unpardonable sin was his refusal to endorse Team Trump\u2019s discredited claim that the 2020 election was \u201cstolen\u201d by Democrats. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s taking revenge against Krebs sends a chilling message to anyone seeking to work in cybersecurity in the federal government. CISA and NSA already have a difficult time hiring and retaining top cyber talent, since gifted young IT experts can always earn more money in the private sector than working for Uncle Sam. The Krebs witch-hunt will only make this challenging predicament worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Above all, the Trump administration is playing caustic politics with our cybersecurity as threats rise to unprecedented levels. Recently, retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone<\/a>, who headed NSA and CYBERCOM from 2018 to 2024, broke his customary discretion and\u00a0stated plainly\u00a0that China represents the standout threat<\/a> to U.S. cybersecurity. Beijing\u2019s aggressive Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon cyber intrusions, not just of the U.S. government but wide swaths of our civilian infrastructure too, represent an existential threat to American security and prosperity. Nakasone minced no words: \u201cThere is absolutely no intelligence to be gathered by putting malicious code in [critical infrastructure] networks\u2026It\u2019s not espionage. This is not intended for espionage. This is intended to provide a capability at some point in the future that allows the Chinese to wreak havoc or spark a crisis [if they] enter a period of tension with the United States.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

China\u2019s alarming ability to shut down U.S. critical infrastructure through online attacks has reached such a level that Beijing privately doesn\u2019t bother to deny it. The\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/i>\u00a0just reported<\/a> that in meetings with American representatives in Geneva last December, Chinese interlocutors tacitly admitted that their hackers were behind the audacious Volt Typhoon operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trump administration wants to play politics with American cybersecurity while our adversaries are preparing for war. The\u00a0\u201cCyber Pearl Harbor\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that experts have warned against for the last quarter-century may arrive sooner than we think.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Cybersecurity<\/p><\/div>\n