Russia Hacks Pentagon, Which Can’t Find ‘Reset’ Button
Romney warned Russia was “our number one geopolitical foe.”
Russia is “our number one geopolitical foe,” Mitt Romney said repeatedly in 2012. Barack Obama dismissed it out of hand at the time, saying, “Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength, but out of weakness. Russia’s actions are a problem [but] they don’t pose the number one national security threat to the United States.” He both underestimated the problem and misstated Romney’s assertion. Instead, he and his administration — led in part by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — pursued a strategy of what they arrogantly called “smart power.” That included the infamous “reset” button Hillary presented to her Russian counterpart. She later boasted of it being a “brilliant stroke” that “succeeded.” But fast forward to today, and U.S. officials say Russia recently launched a “sophisticated cyberattack” against the Pentagon’s email system. Specifically, an unclassified system used by some 4,000 employees of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The attack was detected in July (though only just reported) and the network remains offline as the Pentagon works to seal the breach. Maybe they just need to fix it with another “reset” button.