Amazingly, the Biden administration thinks it can retreat in cyber-space and not just in physical space.
Remember the amazingly dense Biden initiative to provide Putin with a list of critical targets that must be off limits to Russian attacks? You do? Let's re-visit that monumental stupidity, shall we?
Democrat national security officials are simply terrified of responding to provocations. They fear escalation and so cave to all competitors. Since all responses risk escalation, the Biden Administration has signaled that it will likely never inflict substantial or sustainable costs on states that permit criminal groups to operate in cyberspace, as long as they don’t attack US critical infrastructure. President Biden threw Americans, allies, friends of law-abiding liberal democracies, and emerging states all under the authoritarian cyberspace bus.
Since cyberspace attack on all US targets was already illegal, the list moves US redlines higher, to allow for more criminal activity, since the list implies *other than these targets,* the United States won’t even consider inflicting unacceptable costs for illegal Russian attack on US territory. Toothless indictments – yes; counter cyberspace attack — no. By not defending them, President Biden and his national security advisors are erasing these international norms and redlines. Under international law, you defend norms and sovereignty by *physically defending them,* not by abandoning them.
The administration prefers to let enemies inflict only moderate damage on Americans, which reduces the need to respond in our defense. So we retreat in cyber-space. Which our Afghanistan skedaddle demonstrates in the physical world, too, if the Russians had any doubts.
And so now there is a cyber free-fire zone for the Russians. Which will be good practice for the day when Russia escalates to attacking the critical infrastructure list.
At least the adults are in charge again. Sleep secure that no 3:00 a.m. post-lid call to the White House will signal a dire crisis that inflicts more than acceptable collateral damage on the American people.
Have a super sparkly day.
