Russia, China and other countries waging cyberattacks on the United States have not been deterred and do not fear any retaliation, according to the Army general President Trump has chosen to be the new chief of U.S. Cyber Command.
Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone acknowledged the threat and suggested a new cyber doctrine to deter adversaries amid questioning from frustrated Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing Thursday.
The stark assessment comes just two days after the outgoing CYBERCOM commander, Adm. Mike Rogers, confirmed that Trump has not ordered any retaliation against Russia for its 2016 presidential election meddling, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not fear a U.S. response to ongoing hacking.
“We have officials who have come before this committee in an open session saying ‘Nope, we get hit and we don’t retaliate,’” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. “We don’t retaliate against the Russians, the North Koreans, the Chinese. What’s your thought on that and should we start cranking up the costs of the cyberattacks on our nation?”
Nakasone, who now heads the Army’s cyber operations, said a new cyberwarfare doctrine could lay out a blueprint for responding to Russia and others, and he said it could also deter further hacking.
“What do you think our adversaries think right now? If you do a cyberattack on America what is going to happen to them?” Sullivan asked.
“Basically, I would say right now they do not think that much will happen to them,” Nakasone said. “They don’t fear us. It is not good, senator.”
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said the government is “failing” the public and that the lack of a U.S. cyber response dates back to the Obama administration and the Chinese hack of the Office of Personnel Management, which resulted in the breach of records for about four million government workers.
“At the top of the executive and legislative level we are not responding in any way that is adequate to the challenge we face. In cyberwar, we are just playing cyber defense,” Sasse said.
The U.S. is especially vulnerable to such attacks because it has among the highest amount of electronics in the world and 90 percent of its infrastructure is in the private sector, he said.
“So we stand to absorb attack after attack after attack unless we have offensive cyber capabilities,” Sasse said.
