Bolton pushing to eliminate White House cyber job

[Mme. Defarge]

Source: Politico

President Donald Trump’s national security team is weighing the elimination of the top White House cybersecurity job, multiple sources told POLITICO — a move that would come as the nation faces growing digital threats from adversaries such as Russia and Iran.

John Bolton, Trump’s hawkish new national security adviser, is leading the push to abolish the role of special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator, currently held by the departing Rob Joyce, according to one current and two former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the discussions.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of deliberations about internal White House operations.

Cybersecurity experts and former National Security Council officials expressed alarm at the idea of eliminating the job, saying it would undo much of the progress the U.S. has made on cyber efforts and send the wrong message about U.S. priorities in the digital domain. The coordinator — a post created at the beginning of the Obama administration — leads a team of NSC staffers who manage federal cyber strategy on everything from election security to encryption policies to digital warfare.

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/05/09/bolton-white-house-cyber-czar-523430

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Holy merde!

[sandensea]

1. Of course.

He wants Putin and Bibi to tamper with our elections unencumbered.

[Girard442]

4. Not just the elections.

Pesky Cyber Security people would ask hard questions about those mysterious high bandwidth channels they're not allowed to touch or even talk about.

[sandensea]

20. +1

Amazing. So much more than meets the eye with this story.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Remarkable when they commit treason in broad daylight like this.

[trof]

3. Why would he do that?

[Volaris]

23. Because if he disables the cyber defense apparatus,

And then someone, oh, let's say 'Iran' crashes the Internet and power gris on on the eastern seaboard, then they get their bone-headed war with Iran. And nobody can prove it WASNT Iran, so there you go.

The only correct answer regarding anything related to John Bolton is 'because John Bolton is an asshole, that's why.'

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

33. Because Putin wants it done.

Gotta get rid of all those things that might get in the way of his messing with our elections.

[pangaia]

5. Where the fuck are our reps and the media?

Every senator, member of the House, governor should be all over this.. and EVERYTHING else.. ??

Sorry.. dumb questions..

[crazycatlady]

35. Most members of Congress don't know much about cybersecurity

[pangaia]

38. Maybe true, but why does one have to know the ins and outs

of cyber-security to comprehend what a treasonous disaster this is?

One doesn't have to understand aerodynamics to know that if a wing falls off your plane, you are going down,, quickly.. like, forget it...

I mean duh !!!

[kimbutgar]

6. It just goes to show you Bolton is a Russian asset and is a traitor undermining our country

This makes me even more outraged. The biggest threat we have now is cyber attacks from Russia and China and Bolton just wants to make it easier for Russia to steal our secrets. Why isn’t the miltitary outraged?

[SergeStorms]

24. +1000

Spot on!

[RandomAccess]

28. What have I missed about Bolton?

Does he have Russian contacts??

[kimbutgar]

30. His pac Was funded by Russian oligarchs.

I read it here on DU. Russian bolton in the search will give you the facts.

[RandomAccess]

31. Thank you

I actually had known that, but boy had I forgotten it.

[pangaia]

39. Plus he has been a sick fuck for decades, and decades....

[procon]

7. Another genius! In the age of digital information when electronic data is under attack

from Russia and hackers everywhere, this ignorant old dinosaur wants to eliminate the cybersecurity experts. It's brilliant! What is his alternative... IBM Selectric typewriters, fountain pens, quill and ink?

Why doesn't Trump just put the key under the doormat and invite Putin in?

[keithbvadu2]

19. Vlad does not need an invite

[SergeStorms]

25. One glaring mistake there....

Trump's hands are far too big. Whoever photoshopped it tried to make them smaller than a normal human's, but Trump is so sub-human they're nowhere near scale.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. Who's been financing Mr. Pubic Upper Lip the last few years I wonder. nt

[Roy Rolling]

9. Coal

Maybe it will mean more jobs in coal? Yeah, that's a stupid comment.

Almost as stupid as the Secretary of Fuckin' State eliminating cyber capabilities in the midst of a global Cyber World War.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Either Bolton is living in the 1950s or he wants to be complicit in Putin's takeover. . . . nt

[fountainofyouth]

11. It's like when they demoted Richard Clarke, the senior CT guy on the NSC

Except they're doing it after 9/11.

[pwb]

12. Well we still have our steel and gunpowder military to fight them.

We are going backwards. Cyber is destroying and dividing us more every day and we build ships and planes and bombs. We are fucked.

[Mme. Defarge]

13. A friend of mine suggested

that the administration might have confused “cyber” with saber, wondering why in the world should we be concerned about saber security?

[erronis]

14. I would not trust any government agency/organization that took its orders from the dump.

It might be better to let them just re-brand the position as "Minister of Alternate Information (AI)". (Propaganda being too fraught with associations and New-Speak was already taken.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. So it looks like Bolton has completely neutered Kelly

and is running the show now.

[PoliticAverse]

16. Maybe he'll get around to eliminating his own job. n/t

[NBachers]

17. Why guard the back door then the front door's wide open?

[kairos12]

18. Open the door further for Putin and his gang.

[stuffmatters]

21. How and why was John Bolton given security clearance w/ his Russia&CAnalytica baggage?

It remains incomprehensible to me.

[Mme. Defarge]

22. Why, indeed!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. My take on this is that it shows just to what extent people

like Bolton know nothing about computers and technology. It's a huge, huge problem.

[Mme. Defarge]

27. Ummm...

My take on it is more sinister. Alas.

[dalton99a]

29. "Leave the door open for our master Putin"

[DemocracyMouse]

32. Enough! Enough capitulation to the Russians in broad daylight

Anyone here on DU have a list of Russia panderings? It's time to coordinate with all progressives, Democrats, anti-gun groups, women's groups, etc. and plan a march to protect the Constitution from Russia and its US puppets.

Any takers?

[forgotmylogin]

34. Bolton: He's like Ebola with facial hair.

[Mc Mike]

36. But her e-mails.

[librechik]

37. I wonder how much the Russians are paying Bolton to cripple us

one of his fondest wishes.