Tom Bossert, a former DHS adviser under Trump, calls for urgent action to deal with a suspected Russian cyberattack

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“The scale of this ongoing attack is difficult to say above,” wrote Tom Bossert, who oversaw the administration’s cybersecurity efforts, citing his response to Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election before was pushed out in April 2018, in a New York Times- ed op. He said it will take “years to know for sure which networks the Russians control and which ones they just live on.”

“The healing effort alone will be amazing,” he writes, adding that “all new networks need to be built – and separated from endangered networks. “

U.S. officials are embracing the widespread cyberattack after cybersecurity company FireEye and software company SolarWinds, which used several federal civilian agencies for network management, recently confirmed that their systems were in a state of disrepair. danger.

At least three U.S. government agencies – the Department of Homeland Security, Agriculture and Trade – were put at risk in the hack, along with private sector companies in the consulting, technology, telecom, and energy industries.

While the scope and size of the hack is still being determined, it is already becoming clear that this marks one of the most significant breaches the U.S. government has committed in years.

Trump himself has yet to accept the hack, choosing instead to keep focusing publicly on spreading disinformation about the 2020 election and trying to reverse the results. White House news secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that the Trump administration is “taking a hard look” at the data breach “and obviously paying close attention to any kind of cyber hacks.”

In his op-ed Wednesday, Bossert said the U.S. and its allies should “take responsibility for these shares publicly and formally.”

“If it is Russia, President Trump must make it clear to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin that these actions are not possible,” he wrote. Russia’s embassy in Washington has declined. strongly engage in it.

Bossert cited the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress has passed but Trump has vowed, “a piece of legislation that needs to be signed” as a result of the cyberattack, which would be among other cybersecurity provisions authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to threaten to mark a hunt on federal networks.

He directly called on Trump to “overcome his grievances about the election and rule for the rest of his term. This moment requires unity, purpose and control. A sovereign nation cannot contain so much of this size and breadth, “he said.

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, must begin planning to “take control of this crisis” and that Biden and Trump’s teams must “find a way to work together.”

“President Trump is about to leave a federal government, and possibly a large number of large businesses, under the influence of the Russian government,” Bossert wrote. defended and severely punished the Russians. “

The U.S. is “sick, carefree, and now under cyberattack” and “leadership is crucial,” he wrote.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Vivian Salama, Alex Marquardt and Brian Fung contributed to this report.

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