Under Biden, 'Kindergarten Level' Cybersecurity No Match for China

It’s no secret to anyone that has been paying attention that the United States is just one of many global powers currently engaged in a persistent cyberwar that has impacted private and public sectors of the global economy.

The level to which this exposure affects the literal safety of all Americans, as well as people all around the world, cannot be understated.

The U.S., which has seemingly been largely in a defensive posture, has endured years of repeated attacks from countries that include Russia, North Korea, Iran, and in particular, China.

The Chinese cyber threat is nothing new however, as the world discovered back in 2015 that the NSA had already documented over 600 instances of "corporate, private or government 'Victims of Chinese Cyber Espionage' that were attacked over a five-year period, with clusters in America's industrial centers," according to published reports.

Although the Biden administration has attempted to mitigate these threats behind a plethora of new initiatives, the waves of constant attacks persist, with the most recent notable intrusion being last week’s attack against Amazon’s live-streaming platform, Twitch, that had its source code revealed publicly.

Amid the chaos occurring in the cybersphere, this week, the American effort to secure its cybersecurity also had to suffer the indignity associated with the revelation that a top Pentagon official tasked with identifying the most secure and advanced software available for the headquarters of the Department of Defense quit his post as a result of his belief that our “AI capabilities and cyber defenses of some government departments were at kindergarten level.”

The official, Nicolas Chaillan, told the Financial Times that “We have no competing fighting chance against China in fifteen to twenty years. Right now, it's already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion.”

Additionally, in a LinkedIn post announcing his departure from the Pentagon, Chaillan also disclosed some concerning information regarding the priority the current administration is putting on cybersecurity in saying that he was “just tired of continuously chasing support and money to do my job. My office still has no billet and no funding, this year and the next." 

The latter quote is particularly chilling, as the perception from the still very new Biden administration is one of perpetual incompetence and failure.

In less than nine months, it seems that every issue from the southern border to energy and the economy, to perhaps the administration’s worst failure, Afghanistan, have all worked in unison to sink America’s reputation as the world’s leading superpower.

The lack of respect for America has become increasingly apparent, especially in the wake of the Afghanistan disaster, as China has terrorized Taiwanese airspace over the past several weeks while using its state-controlled media to ridicule the United States.

Perhaps the most telling detail surrounding the sudden drop in global standing for the U.S. is the fact that this has all occurred in the wake of empty threats of economic sanctions against China from the United States and Europe in the aftermath of the massive Microsoft Exchange hack that affected at least 60,000 public and private organizations in the United States.

The attack was carried out by the Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat group Hafnium. Hafnium has been known to attempt to obfuscate their true location and identity by using a web of virtual private servers (VPS) that are located in the U.S. and target political groups including think tanks, U.S. defense contractors and researchers.

So, at this point, it is becoming abundantly clear that China is effectively operating with impunity while the “Kindergarten Cops” in the executive branch and intelligence community are severely lacking in terms of any meaningful response to an increasingly unhinged and brazen “Red Dragon.”

In less than two years, China has also threatened the safety of Americans by withholding vital personal protective equipment in addition to failing to adhere to the terms of the new trade deal negotiated by the Trump administration.

Is this all a prelude to escalation of tensions? If so, should Americans have any trust whatsoever in the Biden administration to lead us through these choppy waters?

The potential for radical changes over the rest the Biden administration should provide all the incentive needed for the GOP to get in gear for next year’s midterms, as the 2022 elections may represent America’s last attempt to prevent irreversible damage to not only America, but also the world.