Former Bush Cybersecurity Czar Richard Clarke Says US Shouldn’t Rule Out ‘Tit-for-Tat Cyber War’ With Russia After Massive Government Hack
One day after warning that the scale of the recent digital espionage attack on the country was unprecedented, former Bush cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke said the U.S. shouldn’t rule out a “tit-for-tat cyber war” with Russia, the alleged source of the widespread intrusion.
Appearing with guest host John Berman on a Friday night edition of Anderson Cooper 360, Clarke said the country must expand its menu of policy responses to send a clear signal that such digital attacks will not be tolerated. On Thursday, Clarke had offered a bombshell analysis of the far-reaching hacking campaign that just hit the U.S. government (and untold numbers of private companies), labeling it “The largest espionage attack in history.”
“As we continue to learn more of the scope and depth of this. What concerns you most of what happened?” Berman asked Clarke to start the segment.
“What concerns me is the Russians have broken all the rules,” Clarke explained. “This is getting not only into a few government offices, but in thousands of companies. It is what the military calls preparations of the battlefield. Putting back doors in thousands of important companies and agencies, so that if they ever want to come back, in the period of crisis, and destroy those networks, they have the access. That’s the real problem.”
Berman then pointed out that President Donald Trump has not issued a single public statement condemning or even acknowledging the attack, even as Congress and outside national security experts have sounded numerous alarms.
“The government is addressing it. Homeland Security is addressing it, NSA is addressing this. I don’t think they need the president at this point,” Clarke said. “But some day, an American president has to look Putin in the eye and say ‘Knock it off. Get the hell out of our networks and if you don’t, I will make you pay a price.’ We have not been willing to make them pay a prize except economic sanctions. I think we really have to consider it, even if will start a tit-for-tat cyber war. Somehow, we have to stop this behavior.”
“You are talking about offensive cyber action, yes?” Berman clarified.
“Offensive cyber actions on part of the United States is one of the response options,” Clarke affirmed. “So are further economic sanctions, so are limiting their access to the global Internet. Everything should be on the table, John, including offensive cyber actions.”
Berman then pressed Clarke on the message Trump was sending with his silence, to both the alleged source of the attack, Russia, as well as other adversaries around the world.
“I think all bad actors around the world are learning that they can hurt us, that they can get into these software updates and use them as a vector to attack,” Clarke warned. “And other bad actors, if we don’t do something, other bad actors will pile on and learn that they can take advantage of us and there’s no price for it.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
