Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump's view of economics goes back to about the 1950s (or maybe the 1750s), but his view of war goes back to World War I. He envisions great tanks battling it out on some distant plain. It hasn't dawned on him yet that if a $5 million tank can be destroyed by a $100,000 javelin missile, something amply demonstrated in Ukraine, then tank battles aren't going to happen anymore. Future wars may be won on the cyber battlefield. If one country can disable the other's military command and control system, its electricity production, telecommunications, and water supply systems by hacking its software, it may be able to win without firing a shot. And if it can interfere with elections enough to elect friendly leaders who will do its bidding, war can be avoided altogether.
So how is Trump preparing for a future cyberwar? As we noted on Friday, he just fired the head of the National Security Agency, Gen. Timothy Haugh, and his deputy, Wendy Noble, because conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer told him to do so. Is Haugh incompetent? No, he is a decorated four-star Air Force general who was head of the U.S. Cyber Command. If anything, he is too good at collecting data, including about U.S. citizens, which led Sen. Ron. Wyden (D-OR) to oppose his confirmation. But that is not why he was fired. He was fired because Loomer feels his primary loyalty is to the country rather than to Trump. In part, that may be due to Haugh's work in 2016 trying to counter Russia's attempts to influence the presidential election. Once reminded of that, Trump wouldn't need a lot more urging to dump Haugh.
The NSA is the most secret of the secret agencies. When reporters ask about what the NSA is and does, they are told "No Such Agency." The agency is so secretive that supposedly even Congress doesn't know what its budget really is (it is buried in the DoD budget somewhere). Even its huge headquarters building in Fort Meade, MD, tries to hide itself:
The NSA's actual job is to collect and analyze (electronic) intelligence about enemies, which includes a lot of code breaking. In fact, the NSA is reputed to be the world's biggest employer of mathematicians. It is also responsible for penetrating enemy computer systems and defending U.S. ones. Firing Haugh and replacing him with a Trump lackey is a clear message to Russia and China that they should ramp up their attempts to penetrate all manner of U.S. computer systems and install back doors, so they can get in easily when crunch time comes. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: "At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyberthreats—as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored—how does firing him make Americans any safer?" The Salt Typhoon attack refers to the Chinese penetration of the system the U.S. Department of Justice uses for wiretapping when authorized by a court order. The DoJ also believes that the Chinese can read some e-mails sent by Americans to other Americans, including government officials.
Even Republicans are critical of the firings. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a retired Air Force brigadier general, said: "Russia and China are laughing at us today because we just fired the absolute best leaders."
The firings at the NSA aren't the only domestic attacks on U.S. security. In March, Trump cut the budget of the 300 people at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and fired 300 people. The agency works to protect U.S. infrastructure from foreign attacks. This includes election security, since the counties, which actually run elections, generally know next to nothing about cybersecurity and are entirely dependent on CISA for protection. By sidelining CISA, Trump has opened the door wide to foreign interference. We have our doubts that Loomer understands this stuff, so the order must have come from somewhere else. Who might be interested in weakening American infrastructure and election security? VP? (V)