Angus King Slams Lack Of Cyber Security Deterrence: ‘There’s Never A Price To Be Paid By Our Adversaries’

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) spoke about cyber threat deterrence.

Transcript

00:00And I do believe we have another member that is just arriving and

00:07I would simply ask. Senator King, are you ready with

00:10questions? I'm always ready.

00:15I knew how he was going to answer that. He's always ready. Senator King.

00:20Thank you very much, General, for being here today. I take it my

00:23colleagues have talked. I'm sorry, I was at a hearing upstairs in the Intelligence Committee

00:27and it was an open hearing so I can't even tell you about it, but in any case

00:31I understand that my colleagues have talked a lot about the firing of General

00:37Hawk and how unfortunate that was, so I don't need to plow that ground.

00:43One of the issues that I'm principally concerned with in cyber is that

00:47we have no deterrent. Our strategy

00:51in all of our other military and national security

00:55approaches is based upon deterrence.

00:59Except in cyber, where we continually are attacked

01:02as we were Salt Typhoon, for example.

01:06Going all the way back to Sony,

01:08nothing ever happens to the adversary.

01:11And my belief is that until

01:13we start to impose costs

01:15and they understand that there will be costs,

01:17these attacks are going to continue. They're cheap

01:19and there's really no consequences.

01:22If you're sitting in the Kremlin and somebody said,

01:26let's interfere with the next election in the United States,

01:28your answer would be, why not?

01:30It's not going to really cost us anything

01:32and they don't respond. We're not at any risk.

01:37Do you agree with me that we need to

01:39have a more stronger

01:41retaliatory

01:43capacity, number one,

01:45and demonstrate the will to use it?

01:47Otherwise, these attacks are simply going to continue.

01:49Senator, thanks for your question.

01:57It's good to see you again.

01:58Yes, sir.

02:01So, Senator, we

02:02certainly agree that

02:04we need to continue to improve

02:06our capability

02:09in order to deter

02:10and respond to attacks.

02:13I will tell you that

02:15from our standpoint,

02:17there is certain activity that

02:19adversaries, to include China,

02:21will always continue to conduct

02:23and we have got to focus

02:26on the most credible capabilities

02:28to deter

02:30operations that significantly

02:32impact the national security.

02:34Just like you,

02:35I am aware of Salt Typhoon

02:37and Volt Typhoon

02:38and while we're certainly

02:40concerned about that

02:42and we will certainly develop a broad range

02:44of options to deal with that.

02:46I will tell you that

02:47the fact that

02:47we are able to see

02:50and observe that activity

02:51and we are able to work

02:53with industry partners

02:54in order to build defenses

02:56against that activity

02:57is something that provides us

03:00some advantage

03:01vis-a-vis adversaries

03:02like the Chinese.

03:04And I assure you,

03:04we are dedicated to developing options

03:06in order to counter that

03:07and I would be more than happy

03:10to work with your staff

03:11in a different setting

03:12to provide you some details.

03:13Well, I understand

03:14that you have capacity

03:15and you have capabilities.

03:17We demonstrated that in 2018

03:18with the hunt forward,

03:19defend forward

03:20that General Nakasone initiated.

03:23So I understand

03:24we have the capacity.

03:25My problem is

03:25we don't have a doctrine.

03:27We don't have a...

03:28Deterrence doesn't work

03:29unless the other side

03:30knows about it.

03:31Dr. Strangelove,

03:32why didn't you tell us

03:33about the doomsday machine?

03:35Well, the premier likes surprises.

03:38A deterrent isn't a deterrent.

03:39It takes two things,

03:41three things.

03:41capacity, which we have,

03:44will, which we apparently don't have,

03:46and knowledge of the adversary

03:49that we have those two things

03:51and that they are being held at risk.

03:53So I'm not questioning

03:54the capabilities.

03:56What I'm questioning is

03:57here we are with Salt Typhoon,

03:59you know,

03:59two or three, six months ago,

04:01nothing's happened.

04:03No response.

04:04No, you know,

04:05like I said,

04:06we haven't even responded

04:07to the Sony attack

04:08and that was 10 or 15 years ago.

04:10There's never a price

04:12to be paid by our adversaries.

04:13And until we develop that theory,

04:16it seems to,

04:17the concept of deterrence,

04:19and let them know

04:20that they're at risk,

04:22they're going to keep doing

04:23what they're doing.

04:24I understand defending

04:25and working with our private sector partners.

04:27That's all good.

04:28But you can't patch your way out of this.

04:31There's got to be,

04:32I believe,

04:33a credible deterrent

04:35that the adversaries understand

04:38that if they attack us in cyberspace,

04:40they will pay a price.

04:42It doesn't necessarily

04:43have to be in cyberspace.

04:44It may be some other kind of harm

04:48that puts them at risk.

04:51But the point is,

04:52until we start to develop that doctrine

04:54and let our adversaries know

04:56it's just going to keep happening.

05:02So, Senator,

05:03acknowledge your concern.

05:06Again, look forward to working

05:07with the committee,

05:09with the department.

05:10And I do think we could provide you

05:13some more information

05:13in a closed session.

05:14Well, I appreciate that.

05:16Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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