Oh man. What a year. The question I like to pose a lot of times is, how old is too old to be a politician? The 20th Century advanced in technology faster than previous centuries have. The 21st is not showing any signs of slowing down. I have said many times how the US is losing our hold on the cyber space, and in some instances we already have lost.
Take a look at this article:
“However, the actor may be seeking access to obtain future disruption options, to influence U.S. policies and actions, or to delegitimize (state and local) government entities”
US: Russian hackers targeting state, local networks
I do want to add that the threat just isn’t foreign, but can be domestic too. Do not doubt that a major political party won’t hire people to crack into other systems. They are not above that either. I do think the threat is less severe from our current establishment politicians in that they are old as dirt. They really do not understand this world that they are supposed to lead.
A great example of this is:
Senators seek to cut Army cyber program for greater joint investment
So a little data on who the Armed Services Committee comprises of.
| Name | Party | Age | Served/When/Operation? |
| James Inhofe | GOP | 85 | Yes/1950s/None |
| Jack Reed | DEM | 70 | Yes/1970s/None |
| Roger Wicker | GOP | 69 | Yes/1970s-1990s/None |
| Deb Fischer | GOP | 69 | No |
| Tom Cotton | GOP | 43 | Yes/2000s-2010s/OIF |
| Mike Rounds | GOP | 66 | No |
| Joni Ernst | GOP | 50 | Yes/1990s-2010s/OIF |
| Thom Tillis | GOP | 60 | No |
| Dan Sullivan | GOP | 55 | Yes/1990s-2010s/OEF |
| David Perdue | GOP | 70 | No |
| Kevin Cramer | GOP | 59 | No |
| Martha McSally | GOP | 54 | Yes/1990s-2010s/OIF,OEF |
| Rick Scott | GOP | 67 | Yes/1970s/None |
| Marsha Blackburn | GOP | 68 | No |
| Josh Hawley | GOP | 40 | No |
| Jaheen Shaheen | DEM | 73 | No |
| Kirsten Gillebrand | DEM | 53 | No |
| Richard Blumenthal | DEM | 74 | Yes/1970s/None |
| Mazie Hirono | DEM | 72 | No |
| Tim Kaine | DEM | 62 | No |
| Augus King | DEM | 76 | No |
| Martin Heinrich | DEM | 49 | No |
| Elizabeth Warren | DEM | 71 | No |
| Gary Peters | DEM | 61 | Yes/1990s-2000s/None |
| Joe Manchin | DEM | 73 | No |
| Tammy Duckworth | DEM | 52 | Yes/1990s-2010s/OIF |
| Doug Jones | DEM | 66 | No |
So this is an interesting makeup of the committee members. Why isn’t this information on the Armed Services Committee page right next to their name? So out of 27, 16 never served in any branch leaving leaving about 41% with any sort of military and defense experience. Out of the 11 with experience 6 never deployed to combat leaving 46% with any experience of combat. Now I understand being in combat isn’t an indicator of their ability to make defense decisions, but I felt that was interesting. 50% of the Republicans are veterans. Only 4 of the Democrats are veterans putting them at 30%. The average age of the committee is 62. Most of these people are wholly incapable and have no experience in matters of the military. I did not research it, but I’ll put money that most do not know a thing about IT.
So what is the answer for Russian criminals targeting financial institutions, and Russian state sponsored attacking government systems? Chinese criminals and state sponsored stealing secrets from businesses? Iran and North Korea with their ransomware. These are all issues facing the United States and its allies, and the people in charge do not understand computers past the UI. Great power fights will be fought and won on the cyber battlefield. It’s about time we get better people to make decisions that understand the threat. If we can’t, it may be time we take them off the tit.
Corn Pop Security 