Trouble at home may change Biden s hand in Iran nuke ta accesswdun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from accesswdun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper testifies during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on July 9 in Washington, D.C. Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been terminated, President Trump wrote in a tweet, and will be replaced by Christopher C. Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Chris will do a GREAT job, Trump tweeted shortly after noon. Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.
Sources say Esper already had a resignation letter ready to go because Trump threatened to fire him in June over a disagreement about using active duty troops to quell street protests and had recently updated it.
SolarWinds Hack Followed Years of Warnings of Weak Cybersecurity Congress and agencies shelved security recommendations that were considered high priority while investing in programs that have fallen short.
Bloomberg | Jan 15, 2021
Alyza Sebenius (Bloomberg) Congress and federal agencies have been slow or unwilling to address warnings about cybersecurity, shelving recommendations that are considered high priority while investing in programs that have fallen short.
The massive cyber-attack by suspected Russian hackers, disclosed in December, came after years of warnings from a watchdog group and cybersecurity experts. For instance, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which was created by Congress to come up with strategies to thwart sizable cyber-attacks, presented a set of recommendations to Congress in March that included additional safeguards to ensure more trusted supply chains.
POLITICO
Get the Morning Defense newsletter
Email
Sign Up
By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Presented by
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Defense will not publish on Monday, Jan. 18. We ll be back on our normal schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Please continue to follow Pro Defense.
Editor’s Note: Morning Defense is a free version of POLITICO Pro Defense s morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.