Lawmakers From Both Parties Urge Donald Trump To Take Action After Suspected Russian Hack
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers urged President Donald Trump to take action after the suspected Russian hack of federal agencies this week, according to a Friday report from The Hill.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have worked together to respond to the breach, but Trump himself has not even addressed it.
In a statement released on Friday, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said that the Trump administration is not taking the breach “seriously enough.”
“It is extremely troubling that the president does not appear to be acknowledging, much less acting upon, the gravity of this situation,” said Warner, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Panel.
On Thursday, GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah compared the suspected Russian attack to bombers “flying undetected over the entire country” and urged the White House to “take punitive action.” He described Trump’s silence as “quite extraordinary.”
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, said that she is “shocked” by the president’s behavior.
“I’m disappointed that he is not bringing the government together to respond to it to give information to the American people.”
The Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, said that Trump should sign the National Defense Authorization Act into law.
“The NDAA is always ‘must-pass’ legislation — but this cyber incident makes it even more urgent that the bill become law without further delay,” he stated.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine echoed her colleague, saying that Trump should immediately sign the NDAA into law “because it contains significant cybersecurity provisions that would help thwart future attacks.”
In a joint statement released on Friday, ranging GOP members on the House Armed Services Committee made the same argument, arguing that the provisions in the NDAA provide “critical safeguards” for national defense.
In an interview on Thursday, Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI deputy director for counterintelligence, suggested that Trump is to blame for the breach because he gutted cybersecurity funds to pay for a wall on the southern border.
As The Hill noted, almost a dozen federal agencies have reportedly been breached, including the Commerce, State, and Treasury Departments.
Though Trump has remained silent, President-elect Joe Biden has not. In a statement released on Thursday, Biden said that responding to the hack will be his “top priority” once in office.
According to NBC News, some officials believe this hack was the most successful cyber infiltration of the U.S. government ever.
