Trump administration officials are disputing allegations that they are deliberately disregarding Russian cyberattackers, decrying reports suggesting federal officials are doing Moscow’s bidding as “fake.”
Amid President Trump’s efforts to broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, rumors spread of new cyber policies across the U.S. government purportedly downplaying threats from Russia.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, America’s main domestic cyber agency, was said to have stopped viewing Russia as a threat, according to the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper. CISA disputed the reporting on Sunday night.
“CISA’s mission is to defend against all cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, including from Russia. There has been no change in our posture,” the agency said in a post on X. “Any reporting to the contrary is fake and undermines our national security.”
Evidence of CISA’s purported change was contained in a “recent memo” about cyber priorities that excluded Russia but mentioned China, according to the British newspaper.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said on X the administration never issued the alleged memo and that the Guardian refused to share the purported memo with the agency.
“Unbelievable,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on X, amplifying Ms. McLaughlin’s statement.
There do not appear to be public signs of a shift in attitudes about Russia at CISA, or at its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. CISA’s website, for example, identifies Russia as “an enduring global cyber threat.”
Confusion about the American government’s cyber policies toward Russia emerged last week in the aftermath of reporting indicating the Pentagon adopted new strategies as Mr. Trump has reached out to the Kremlin as he looks for an end to the war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down all plans against Russia, including offensive cyber operations, according to The Record from Recorded Future, a cybersecurity company whose original funding came partially from the U.S. intelligence community’s investment fund In-Q-Tel.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared a report about Mr. Hegseth’s policy shift on X with the caption, “Wouldn’t want to hurt Putin’s feelings.”
Mr. Hegseth replied to Mrs. Clinton with a photograph of her laughing and smiling while hitting a reset button with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The Trump administration’s political opponents in Congress have also sought to capitalize on reports of the federal government’s cyber posture regarding Russia too, including Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.
“Donald Trump is so desperate to earn the affection of a thug like Vladimir Putin he appears to be giving him a free pass as Russia continues to launch cyber operations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure, threatening our economic and national security,” Mr. Schumer said on X.
Mr. Schumer said it was a “critical strategic mistake” for Mr. Trump to disarm in cyberspace against Russia.
The shift in U.S. Cyber Command’s approach to Russia reportedly does not apply to the National Security Agency, which collects signals intelligence and works to prevent and eradicate foreign threats.
The change may affect Cyber Command’s “hunt forward” operations, where American personnel deploy to partner nations to observe and detect hackers on foreign networks. The hunt forward teams deploy upon accepting a request from a foreign partner, which the U.S. did in Ukraine between December 2021 and March 2022.
While CISA and NSA appear to maintain their vigilance against Russian cyber threats, other challenges may affect America’s response to various digital threats.
The Trump administration has ousted some CISA personnel. Former CISA Director Jen Easterly said on LinkedIn she feared layoffs would spark uncertainty in the workforce prompting competent cyber professionals to quit.
“Some folks have been justifiably let go for performance reasons and exceptions have been made for others,” Ms. Easterly said last month. “But as I’ve seen across this platform over the past week, the exceptions are not preventing some fantastic teammates from being fired.”
Ms. Easterly said when she joined the agency, it had more than 1,000 vacancies and her team hired more than 2,000 people in three and a half years. As some of that swelling workforce gets pared back by the Trump administration, Ms. Easterly has promoted a website for employers to find CISA alumni seeking work.
Some shuffling of personnel interpreted as ignoring Russian cyber threats may also reveal the pressure on the U.S. government’s digital defenders to address other urgent problems. In 2023, for example, the NSA’s China chief said his team was working to create a new strategy to counter China which would include his agency making a “big shift” from prioritizing counterterrorism to focusing on America’s competition with China.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.