The United States is taking damage in the global cyberwar, and Trump won\u2019t be able to fix that without help.<\/b>
Two months into his presidency, we still don\u2019t know what Donald Trump\u2019s promise to put America first will mean in cyberspace, where hackers have repeatedly exposed the nation as vulnerable.
Last week, the president\u2019s assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, Tom Bossert , made his first extensive public remarks since taking the job. He promised that Trump\u2019s much-anticipated cybersecurity executive order would be out in the \u201ccoming weeks or months.\u201d He hinted that the administration would first focus on securing federal networks, reducing botnets, and \u201cdeterring our adversaries.\u201d
No matter what is in the document, though, it won\u2019t fix the nation\u2019s cybersecurity issues. Achieving that will require co\u00f6peration from Congress, the public, and most importantly the private sector, which owns and operates the lion\u2019s share of U. S. cyberspace.
The situation is dire. James Clapper, whose term as director of national intelligence ended in January, ranked the cyber threat as the number one global threat the nation faces\u2014ahead of traditional terrorism. The nation has failed to adapt to modern cyberwar. It is struggling not only to defend itself, but also to respond once an attack has occurred, Richard Ledgett , deputy director of the National Security Agency, said last week at the FT Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, D. C.
To fix the problem, said Ledgett, \u201cwe need a national desire\u201d that \u201cwe have not currently demonstrated that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n