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Cybersecurity has risen to the top of the agenda for the Biden
administration after a series of high-profile attacks on
entities such as network management company SolarWinds, the
Colonial Pipeline company, meat processing company JBS and
software firm Kaseya hurt the U.S. far beyond just the companies
hacked. Some of the attacks affected fuel and food supplies in
parts of the United States.
"I think it's more than likely we're going to end up, if we end
up in a war - a real shooting war with a major power - it's
going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach of great
consequence and it's increasing exponentially, the
capabilities," Biden said during a half-hour speech while
visiting the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
During a June 16 summit in Geneva between Biden and Russian
President Vladimir Putin, Biden shared a list of critical
infrastructure the U.S. considers off-limits to nation-state
actors.
Since then, senior members of the Biden administration's
national security team have been in constant contact with senior
members of the Kremlin over cyber attacks on the United States,
the White House has said.
Biden also highlighted the threats posed by China, referring to
President Xi Jinping as "deadly earnest about becoming the most
powerful military force in the world, as well as the largest and
most prominent economy in the world by the mid-40s, the 2040s."
During his speech to about 120 ODNI employees and senior
leadership officials, Biden also thanked members of U.S.
intelligence agencies, emphasized his confidence in the work
they do and said he will not exert political pressure on them.
The ODNI oversees 17 U.S. intelligence organizations.
"I'll never politicize the work you do. You have my word on
that," he said. "It's too important for our country," he said.
Biden's comments offered a clear departure from remarks made by
his predecessor Donald Trump, who had a contentious relationship
with intelligence agencies over issues such as its assessment
that Russia had interfered to help Trump win the 2016 election
and its role in revealing that Trump pressured Ukraine to
investigate Biden.
Trump went through four permanent or acting directors of
national intelligence during his four years in office.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; editing by Grant
McCool)
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