President Joe Biden can only focus on one thing at a time. Covid-19 was a vast thing before Afghanistan, and nothing has been the focus since, including cyber security. Biden seems like he’s at the stage of cognitive decline where he doesn’t remember what he’s promised or said. At the G7 summit, Biden asked other world leaders not to conduct cyber-attacks on the United States and said that there would be consequences if it happens again. He’s like a weak parent counting “1…2…2 ½…2 ¾…” and never getting to 3.
The United States State Department was just hit with a cyber-attack, or at least the American people were just told. It happened several weeks ago, just as the Taliban are taking over Afghanistan. The State Department covers travel, visas, U.S. passports, and so many other things. This information would be pertinent for the Taliban to find the Afghans who worked with the United States government.
What are we doing? Wasn’t this information secure enough to keep it safe during the withdrawal from Afghanistan? The Taliban is taking over, and the United States military knew it was going to happen. It wasn’t a secret. The only thing that the United States military could have done differently is plan better. The result for Afghanistan was going to be the same, but the individuals who could have been escorted out of the country could have been different.
The State Department isn’t as secure as they make themselves out to be. They claimed to the Daily Mail, “The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to ensure information is protected.”
However, a United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs said, “As the lead agency for American foreign policy, the State has a wealth of both PII (personally identifiable information) and sensitive national security information.” It is an important role, but the State Department failed.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs also said, “The State Department could not provide documentation for 60 percent of the sampled employees who had access to the agency’s classified network and left thousands of accounts active after an employee had left the agency for extended periods on both its classified and unclassified networks.”
Anyone had access to the information. Accountability is lacking in one of the most critical information storage banks that the United States owns. In a normal circumstance, you have to look at security as a potential threat. Still, when you’re leaving a country you’ve been at war with for 20 years with the expectation that the enemy will take control as soon as you go, you have to make sure the people’s personal information you’re helping evacuate is secure.
