King Secures Agreement from National Security Advisor Nominee on Cybersecurity Posture

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, in a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) secured agreement from a White House nominee on his national cybersecurity posture. In his questioning of United States Army Lieutenant General Joshua M. Rudd, nominee to be Director of the National Security Agency, Senator King asked about the importance of establishing and communicating an effective cybersecurity deterrence policy. Deterrence policies are those where foes are aware that a serious response is likely if they decide to launch a cyberstrike on American interests, and are warned away from actions that could harm the U.S. population. Senator King also pressed the nominee on his willingness to advise the President and policymakers truthfully-even if the facts are unpopular.

Senator King began, "General, we have talked in the past about this question of cyber and one of the huge gaps in our cyber policy is the lack of any cyber deterrent. Our adversaries pay no price for their attacks, whether it's going back to the Sony Act, or recent involvement of … typhoon. Do you believe that it would be important for us to establish a deterrence strategy that our adversaries would be aware of and would color their decision-making as to whether we would launch a cyber-attack against this country?"

"Thanks Senator. Thanks for the opportunity to meet and I appreciate the opportunity to revisit this topic. The short answer is yes; I do," replied Lt. General Rudd.

"I appreciate that. I think that's very important and I hope you'll work with NSA and CYBERCOM to develop that capacity because otherwise we can never patch our way out of that problem. The adversaries are going to continue to evolve and at some point, we have to make them have second thoughts about whether to attack this country in cyber space. Second question. I just want to reiterate your conversation with the Vice Chairman. It is so important that our intelligence committee provide candid, clear, unvarnished, unpolitical advice to policy makers. Because otherwise we have, we can have, real catastrophes involving our national security. So I just want to reiterate that you answered the question yes, you're committed to that. It's somewhat easy to answer that question here its going to be a little harder to do that in practice, if you're sitting in the oval office to some other setting that is a little intimidating. But I want you to reiterate your commitment straight talk, straight advice, and the facts to the policy maker," asked Senator King.

Lt. General Rudd responded, "Senator, I am committed to that as I have been throughout the entirety of my career. I pride myself on I am a leader who has been candid and given the best advice even if it wasn't popular."

As former Co-Chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC) and current member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSCI), Senator King is recognized as one of Congress' leading experts on cyberdefense and as a strong advocate for a forward-thinking cyberstrategy that emphasizes layered cyberdeterrence. Since it officially launched in April 2019, dozens of CSC recommendations have been enacted into law, including the creation of a National Cyber Director.

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