Category Archives: John Bolton

Bolton: Russia, China ‘undoubtedly’ interfering in 2020 U.S. elections

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Russia and China are “undoubtedly” working to interfere in the 2020 presidential election in the U.S., Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday. The comment, which Bolton shared in response to a question from CyberScoop about offensive cyber-operations, came days after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence shared publicly that a whole host of foreign governments, including Russia, China, and Iran, are trying to exert influence over the U.S. presidential election this year. Russia is working to “primarily denigrate former Vice President [Joe] Biden,” while China “prefers” that Trump “does not win reelection,” the U.S. intelligence shows, according to the ODNI. Iran has set its focus on spreading disinformation on social media and seeks to “undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country,” according to the ODNI. The U.S., however, can and should hit back in cyberspace in an effort to try to […]

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Here’s what John Bolton had to say about cybersecurity policy in his new book

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In his new book, former national security adviser John Bolton says that squabbling amongst Trump administration officials hobbled the White House’s efforts to issue new policies that shaped the U.S. government’s offensive and defense cyber-operations. The book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” which CyberScoop obtained, provides an insider’s view of the U.S. government’s largely secretive approach to revamping cyber policy in the last two years. Aside from cyber-operations, Bolton paints President Donald Trump as preoccupied and angered by cybersecurity-related issues, as well as all too willing to use hacking to prop up his political goals in negotiations with China and Ukraine. “We needed to do two things: first, we needed a Trump Administration cyber strategy, and second, we needed to scrap the Obama-era [offensive cyber-operations] rules and replace them with a more agile, expeditious decision-making structure,” Bolton writes of his time negotiating new policies with national security and intelligence officials in 2018. […]

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Bolton book could cause ‘irreparable damage’ to U.S. signals intelligence, NSA Director says

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John Bolton’s tell-all on his time serving as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser could reveal classified information and damage U.S. signals intelligence collection if published, the National Security Agency Director, Gen. Paul Nakasone, said Wednesday. “At the request of the National Security Council legal adviser I have reviewed a limited portion of [Bolton]’s draft manuscript, and have identified classified information in that portion of the manuscript,” Nakasone said in a signed affidavit. “Compromise of this information could result in the permanent loss of a valuable SIGINT [signals intelligence] source and cause irreparable damage to the U.S. SIGINT system.” Nakasone’s assessment of Bolton’s book was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington alongside an emergency Department of Justice filing seeking to block the release of Bolton’s book. The Trump administration sued Bolton on Tuesday in an attempt to delay the memoir’s publication, alleging that his book contained classified information and that […]

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Security clearance background checks should take three days, Rep. Will Hurd says

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Rep. Will Hurd, who recently announced he is leaving Congress after his current term is up, has something to get off his chest. The Texas Republican has previously said he thinks the federal government should be able to issue security clearances in one week — but now he says it can be done in three days. “I never thought I would have to work on such a basic issue as this: [Getting a security clearance] shouldn’t take 9 months,” Hurd said Thursday at the Dell Technologies Forum. “I think we can do it in three days.” Currently, the federal government is currently working on overhauling the security clearance process as part of an overhaul known as Trusted Workforce 2.0 — and already in the last several months the government has made some progress on the backlog of applications. Hurd — a former CIA officer — has had a front-row seat for the process […]

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Congressional pressure builds for White House to share classified cyber authorizations

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Almost one year after President Donald Trump issued a classified memorandum that has made it easier for the Pentagon to run offense cyber-operations against U.S. adversaries, lawmakers still haven’t seen the details of the memorandum, and they want the White House to change course. Thursday evening the House of Representatives added a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act that would compel the White House to turn over the memorandum as well as any others relating to the Pentagon’s cyber-operations.  The amendment was part of an “en bloc” package, meaning both sides accepted by voice vote without debate, signaling to the White House just how much interest there is — on both sides of the aisle — in allowing the legislative branch to see the memorandum. Part of the concern is that with increased authorizations to run offensive operations against adversaries, the administration runs the risk of escalating tensions with adversaries in cyberspace without proper Congressional oversight, […]

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U.S. ramping up offensive cyber measures to stop economic attacks, Bolton says

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The U.S. is beginning use offensive cyber measures in response to commercial espionage, President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Tuesday. “We’re now looking at — beyond the electoral context — a whole range of other activities to prevent this other kind of cyber interference … in the economic space, as well,” Bolton said while speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network annual meeting. The U.S. faces many digital economic threats, including a particularly aggressive salvo from Beijing, which continues to steal intellectual property and conduct other cyber-espionage activities, according to the latest Pentagon assessment on Chinese military operations. The U.S. government traditionally has carried out offensive cyber operations in the electoral context, such as a 2018 Cyber Command operation that interrupted the internet access of a Russian organization that spread political disinformation on social media. Now, according to Bolton, American focus is expanding to deter the theft of IP. “We’re now opening the aperture, […]

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Bolton confirms offensive cyber-operations conducted to protect midterms

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Days before the midterm elections, the United States is undertaking offensive cyber-operations to protect against foreign interference, White House national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday. “We are right now undertaking offensive cyber-operations in connection with defending the integrity of our electoral process,” Bolton said at an event hosted by the Alexander Hamilton Society. Bolton said it was “too soon to tell,” whether the offensive was affecting adversary behavior, but added that he expects attackers to realize a distinct uptick from how the previous administration conducted cyber-operations. The operations were first made public and described by a New York Times story last month. According to the story, U.S. Cyber Command operators have sent direct messages to those who are conducting influence campaigns aimed at sowing discord in American society for the midterm elections. The Department of Justice last month charged a Russian national for her alleged role in a Russian conspiracy […]

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Ex-DHS official on PPD-20 repeal: Consider potential blowback to private sector

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The U.S. government’s new and reportedly more muscular approach to conducting offensive cyber-operations must carefully consider the potential blowback of such actions to the private sector, a former senior Department of Homeland Security official has warned. “DHS needs to be part of the discussion around the cost-benefit analysis to bring the private sector point of view because we know the private sector often bears the brunt of the retaliation that comes in the wake of more aggressive activity,” Suzanne Spaulding said Wednesday at the Atlantic Council. Asked what public indication there would that those concerns are being addressed, Spaulding, who served as a DHS undersecretary under President Barack Obama, said the answer lies in the private sector. Private companies will have a sense of “whether their equities were adequately considered” before a U.S. government decision to conduct offensive operations, Spaulding said during a panel discussion. “And my guess is they’ll […]

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White House announces federal cyber strategy, vows to go on offensive

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The White House announced a new national cybersecurity strategy Thursday in an effort raise federal network defenses and more aggressively deter foreign adversaries from threatening U.S. interests. “We’re going to do a lot of things offensively and I think our adversaries need to know that,” White House national security adviser John Bolton told reporters. Defensive measures are central to the document, but Bolton’s call with reporters emphasized offense. “We will identify, counter, disrupt, degrade, and deter behavior in cyberspace that is destabilizing and contrary to national interests, while preserving the United States’ overmatch in and through cyberspace,” Bolton said. The strategy is a template through which federal agencies can carry out their own cybersecurity mandates, according to Bolton. “I’m satisfied that this allows us the comprehensive look at strategy across the entire government,” he said. “Each agency knows its lane and is pursuing it vigorously. That’s true in the unclassified world; it’s […]

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Executive order creates system for ‘automatic’ sanctions on foreigners interfering with U.S. elections

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against foreign individual, entity or country attempting to interfere in U.S. elections, the White House announced Wednesday. The order is not public yet, so the exact details remain unknown. The text was outlined by the White House in a phone call with reporters on Wednesday morning. Some sanctions would be “automatic” in cases where federal investigators identify meddling, White House officials said. “It’s a further effort among several that the administration has made,” national security adviser John Bolton said. “It includes not just interference against election or campaign infrastructure, but it also covers the distribution of propaganda and disinformation.” The executive order requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to make regular assessments about potential foreign interference in the election. It also asks for reports by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security in cases interference with election […]

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