We noted last Tuesday that con man and Russian asset Sore Loser Donald "Tovarich" Trump took the U.S. in the wrong direction on cybersecurity during his disgraceful term. From refusing to hold malign actors like Russia accountable, to removing and replacing key cybersecurity officials from their posts, Trump's indifference empowered our adversaries in their cyber war against us. Even now, with the worst, most massive cyber attack on our country by Russian intelligence services, Trump is silent, preferring to rant each day on the false claim that the election was "stolen" from him (and the Kremlin, we'd note). It's a familiar pattern with him, from continually taking thug Vladimir Putin's side over U.S. intelligence, to staying silent about Russia putting bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
As his rotted out regime comes to an end, Trump can still inflict more damage on our nation in the cybersecurity arena. He's threatened to veto the Defense Authorization bill, which contains protections against cyber attacks like the one Russia committed:
"The military bill contains two dozen provisions to strengthen cyberdefenses. It gives the federal government the ability to actively hunt for foreign hackers trying to penetrate computer networks and establishes of a national cyberdirector who would coordinate the government’s defenses and responses to such attacks. [snip]
Had those provisions been in place this year, the Trump administration might have had a better shot at detecting and stopping the breach more quickly, lawmakers said." (our emphasis)
Trump has until next week to veto the bill. Congress is likely to override any veto, not just over the cybersecurity provisions, but since the bill also contains pay raises for service members and their families, a third rail for them. However, expect Trump to delay his veto until Congress recesses, making it more difficult to pass, giving his Kremlin allies yet another "win" before the tables turn on January 20.
BONUS: You know how security-sensitive Sore Loser is when his Twitter account is breached by a Dutch man who guessed his password was "MAGA2020."
