Category Archives: National Security Council

Bolton reshuffle continues: Trump selects Coast Guard official as new homeland security adviser

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The Trump administration has picked Coast Guard Rear Adm. Douglas Fears as its new homeland security adviser, the White House announced Friday. Fears, with over 30 years of service in the Coast Guard, will replace Tom Bossert, who departed the White House two months ago at the request of incoming national security adviser John Bolton. “Doug Fears brings more than three decades of experience across a range of vital homeland security areas including counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and disaster response to the NSC,” Bolton said in a White House statement. “Doug will serve as the president’s homeland security adviser and my point person on an array of vital tasks ranging from overseeing the NSC Cybersecurity Directorate to coordinating the interagency efforts during disaster response.” An alumnus of the U.S. Naval War College, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Harvard, Fears has been a special assistant to the president and senior director for resilience policy at […]

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Senators urge John Bolton to reinstate NSC cyber position

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Nineteen Democratic senators called on the Trump administration to reinstate the White House’s top cybersecurity post, which it removed earlier this month. The group, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote a letter urging National Security Adviser John Bolton to reconsider his decision to eliminate the cybersecurity coordinator position, which was housed in the National Security Council (NSC). The senators expressed concern that eliminating the role “will lead to a lack of unified focus against cyber threats.” “Our country’s cybersecurity should be a top priority,” the senators wrote. “Therefore, it is critically important that the U.S. government present a unified front in defending against cyberattacks.” The senators highlighted Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election and cited Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who testified earlier this year that “Russia will conduct bolder and more disruptive cyber operations during the next year.” “Eliminating the Cybersecurity Coordinator role keeps us from presenting that unified front and […]

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National Security Council delays publication of cyber strategy over inclusion of ‘offensive’ measures

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A public summary of the Trump administration’s cyber deterrence strategy has been delayed because of internal disputes over retaliatory hacking measures, two current U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CyberScoop. According to sources, several National Security Council staffers are seeking edits that further set ground rules for repercussions if an adversary attacks either the U.S. government or a U.S.-based company in cyberspace. The strategy’s outline was supposed to be released last Friday, but was held up after an NSC member requested it be postponed. The summary, although not as comprehensive as the strategy itself, is important because it would broadly inform the public about the government’s secret plan of action and signal to adversaries what behaviors cross a red line. Originally, the Trump administration mandated the cyber deterrence framework through the cybersecurity executive order released in May 2017. The report, a classified document that defines response options for when the country comes under […]

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Possible Kaspersky sanctions meet resistance inside U.S. government

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A White House plan to sanction Kaspersky Lab has met resistance from senior U.S. government officials who are worried that it could set a dangerous precedent for global behavior on the internet, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The plan to sanction the Moscow-based anti-virus maker has largely been pioneered by the National Security Council, CyberScoop previously reported. A source with knowledge of the effort recently said that Treasury Department head Steve Mnuchin has “OK’d” sanctions against Kaspersky, although several of his advisers are against it. A plan to make the sanctions official has no immediate timetable. The final decision rests with the executive branch; which is home to the NSC. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department said the agency “does not telegraph sanctions or comment on prospective actions.” The NSC previously declined to comment on possible Kaspersky sanctions. Some in government worry about the impact such sanctions […]

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A cybersecurity power struggle is brewing at the National Security Council

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Senior government officials are worried about the outcome of an ongoing power struggle inside the National Security Council that will shape the fate of the nation’s cybersecurity posture. The arrival of newly appointed national security adviser John Bolton has prompted an attempted power grab by a member of the National Security Council, four current officials with knowledge of the matter told CyberScoop. This effort is causing anxiety across senior levels of government about the future of the cybersecurity coordinator role at the White House — a position that oversees a wide array of programs, including the management and coordination of defensive and offensive cyber-operations. Earlier this week, current Cybersecurity Coordinator Rob Joyce announced his intention to leave the position and return to the National Security Agency, where he spent more than two decades. He will remain in the White House position for another month to help with the transition process. The sources, who spoke […]

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Cybersecurity adviser Rob Joyce to leave White House, return to NSA

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Rob Joyce is planning to leave his post as White House cybersecurity coordinator and return to work at the National Security Agency, a U.S. official confirmed to CyberScoop on Monday. The news comes less than a week after Joyce’s boss, Thomas Bossert, resigned as White House homeland security adviser. Joyce has been filling Bossert’s role in an acting capacity. Bossert’s resignation was reportedly at the request of John Bolton, the newly appointed national security adviser. The departures of Joyce and Bossert leave big gaps in the Trump administration’s cybersecurity expertise. In his main role, Joyce has been involved in developing the framework surrounding how the U.S. responds to foreign cyberthreats. He participated in a call with reporters on Monday to issue an alert about Russian-backed hacking efforts targeting internet routers. Joyce has also been vocal to push for carveouts for security research in the impending European General Data Protection Regulation, which many say has a chilling effect on […]

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Former NSA official: A joint U.S.-Russia cyber unit isn’t (totally) absurd

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A former deputy director at the National Security Agency said that the idea of a joint U.S.-Russian cyber security unit is not as ridiculous as it sounds, as long as the U.S. side isn’t gullible enough to believe everything the Russians say. “I don’t think it’s absurd, but if you expect the Russians are going to deal with that transparently, and then we’ll get answers that you can take at face value, I think that’s naive,” former NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis said in an interview. Inglis, who left the NSA in 2014, said it might be worth entertaining the idea of a joint unit just “to see how far they’re willing to go.” “What are you willing to put on the table, Russia? If you don’t ask, you’re not going to get,” Inglis said. “But we should hedge our bets. We should have very low expectations about what you […]

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Former NSA official: A joint U.S.-Russia cyber unit isn’t (totally) absurd

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A former deputy director at the National Security Agency said that the idea of a joint U.S.-Russian cyber security unit is not as ridiculous as it sounds, as long as the U.S. side isn’t gullible enough to believe everything the Russians say. “I don’t think it’s absurd, but if you expect the Russians are going to deal with that transparently, and then we’ll get answers that you can take at face value, I think that’s naive,” former NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis said in an interview. Inglis, who left the NSA in 2014, said it might be worth entertaining the idea of a joint unit just “to see how far they’re willing to go.” “What are you willing to put on the table, Russia? If you don’t ask, you’re not going to get,” Inglis said. “But we should hedge our bets. We should have very low expectations about what you […]

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