Adversaries targeting the United States through covert cybersecurity campaigns aimed at amplifying political discourse have been given more freedom to conduct their missions thanks to President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the country's disinformation campaign.
That’s according to a new report in The New York Times, which detailed Friday how efforts to combat disinformation by U.S. cybersecurity agencies have come to a screeching halt under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Almost three months into Mr. Trump’s second term, the guardrails intended to prevent national security missteps have come down as the new team races to anticipate and amplify the wishes of an unpredictable president,” according to the Times report. “The result has been a diminished role for national security expertise, even in the most consequential foreign policy decisions.”
It’s not “how the American national security apparatus is supposed to work,” national security experts and former officials told the Times, which added that “tearing down guardrails has created room for America’s adversaries to operate more freely in the disinformation space.”
“Right now, the N.S.C. is at the absolute nadir of its influence in modern times,” political affairs analyst and author David Rothkopf told the Times about the National Security Council.
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And that has made American companies more vulnerable to attack, according to Lisa Kaplan, CEO of the anti-disinformation company Alethea.
“From what we are seeing, foreign influence efforts may actually be increasing, especially with the rise of anti-Americanism, and it will increasingly target the private sector and different companies of geostrategic and geopolitical importance,” Kaplan said in the Times report.
She added: “The U.S. government at least publicly seems to be taking a more hands-off approach or prioritizing defense against other threats. So foreign governments are currently targeting government and military programs like the F-35 program — if they can’t beat it on the battlefield, beat it through influencing political discourse and disinformation.”