Defense
Republicans slam Biden's defense policy pick for past tweets
Colin Kahl, the Biden administration's nominee to lead a key policy office at the Pentagon, at a 2019 think tank event.
Colin Kahl, the Biden administration's pick to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy, met with heavy criticism from Republicans for past social media comments during his nomination hearing, while advocating for cyber policy that would protect the U.S. against another SolarWinds-type breach.
Before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 4, Kahl called the pervasiveness of the recent intrusion a "deeply troubling" and a reminder of how expansive the cyberattack surface is.
"I fear that that attack surface has grown substantially over the last year as so much of our activities have moved online as a consequence of the pandemic. So this is an issue of foremost importance...across the U.S. government," he testified.
Kahl said his cyber policy views aligned with the Cyberspace Solarium Commission's report, supporting a "layered approach" with deterrence by punishment, defending and rebuilding networks to make resilience a deterrent, and establishing cyber norms with allies.
"True cybersecurity requires a whole of government effort, working in partnership with the private sector," he wrote in his opening remarks.
"The Department should adopt a layered approach to respond to cyberattacks, defend our networks and improve their resilience, and work alongside our allies to shape rules of the road that constrain malign behavior."
However, the three-hour hearing was dominated with c ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
