Maggie Miller

Trump calls for more aggressive responses to cyberattacks in long-awaited cyber strategy The text includes lots of braggadocio — and little detail on actual plans to deter top cyber adversaries, including Russia and China.

Full story on the strategy, with @jsaks.bsky.social and Dana Nickel, out now: www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

One notable point in the strategy - which as expected is highly focused on cyber offensive measures - is an acknowledgement of U.S. cyber capabilities being used in strikes in Venezuela and Iran

The White House just released a new National Cyber Strategy, at the end of a very slow news week: www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Israel says it knocked out Iran’s cyber warfare headquarters But it’s unclear if the strike has fully taken out Iran’s ability to launch cyberattacks as the Middle East war expands.

The Israeli IDF today claimed to have bombed the cyber and electronic warfare headquarters of the Iranian IRGC in Tehran. Experts are skeptical that this will do much to dampen the threat Iranian hackers pose to the U.S., Israel, and Gulf nations: www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

From today’s Morning Cyber: The White House’s Homeland Security Council held a call with leaders from critical infrastructure groups yesterday to ask them to report info on Iranian cyber threats, while also stressing that no major attacks had occurred: subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter/2...

Will NSO’s US Lobbying Pay Off Under Trump? Now, with Friedman, a seasoned Trump insider, at its helm, NSO might finally achieve its long-awaited US comeback, writes Vas Panagiotopoulos.

NSO Group has spent at least $7.6 million to lobby in Washington D.C., according @vaspanagiotopoulos.com.

And it's gonna continue to pressure the U.S. government to get removed from the blocklist it was put on in 2021, in an attempt to get into the U.S. market.

ICYMI this morning: Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that US Cyber Command and Space Command disrupted coms in Iran as part of the initial strike. Caine said this limited the Iranian government’s efforts to respond to the strikes. x.com/magmill95/st...

ICYMI over the weekend: A deep dive into the connections Jeffrey Epstein had with the hacking community

From the Defcon community on Reddit: Jeffery Epstein went to DEFCON 26. Been Monitoring Since DEFCON 21 Explore this post and more from the Defcon community

Epstein/hackers overlap, again www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/com...

‘Irresistible stage’: Olympic authorities on high alert for cyberattacks as winter games kick off Officials have already stopped attempted Russian-linked cyberattacks on Italian embassies and Olympic-related venues.

The Winter Olympics opening ceremony takes place today, with the world’s eyes on the athletes. Behind the scenes, cyber experts from Italy, the US and other nations are watching closely to ensure hacking efforts don’t spoil the show. My new piece: www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Exclusive | Classified Whistleblower Complaint About Tulsi Gabbard Stalls Within Her Agency Congress hasn’t seen the complaint, which was filed eight months ago with the U.S. intelligence community watchdog’s office.

"A cloak-and-dagger mystery reminiscent of a John le Carré novel is swirling around the complaint, which is said to be locked in a safe. Disclosure of its contents could cause 'grave damage to national security,' one official said." www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Tidbit in today’s Morning Cyber newsletter (for Pros): The Pentagon is in the early stages of working on a new agency-focused cybersecurity strategy, separate from the anticipated national cyber strategy still to come from the White House: subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter/2...

Five months after the Trump administration ousted Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse from the role of director at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Secretary Hegseth today appointed Lt. Gen. James Allen to the role.

The proposal also includes $2.6 billion for CISA’s FY26 budget, lower than the $2.9 billion it previously received, and requirements for CISA to fund the Election Infrastructure ISAC and to hire staffers to “critical positions” on vulnerability management, threat hunting and other security programs

ICYMI: This morning, House and Senate lawmakers unveiled a DHS funding proposal that includes extensions of CISA 2015 and the State and Local Cyber Grant Program through Sept. 30. Read more for Pros here: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026...

South Dakota SCIF plan puzzles DHS, CISA officials Those familiar with the effort say there is no clear national security justification for such a facility in South Dakota, where DHS Secretary Kristi Noem served as governor.

South Dakota SCIF plan puzzles DHS, CISA officials

DOGE Cuts “Unexpectedly and Significantly Impacted” Critical Pentagon Unit Staffing problems caused by DOGE resulted in the Defense Information Systems Agency warning of “extreme risk for loss of service” across the military.

New: DOGE staff cuts gutted the Pentagon's IT office so hard it didn't have enough personnel to buy software it needed to operate theintercept.com/2026/01/19/d...

Scoop: Top Trump cyber officials are in discussions to cancel their attendance at the RSAC Conference in March after a top Biden-era cyber leader was named as CEO of the conference ⬇️

UL, company overseeing FCC's Cyber Trust Mark IoT labeling program, has withdrawn amid an FCC probe into UL's China ties: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fcc-cyb...

Could be a big setback for the program, a Biden admin priority.

I previewed this in Sept: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fcc-cyb...

Trump suggests US used cyberattacks to turn off lights in Venezuela during strikes

Trump says US will temporarily ‘run’ Venezuela after raid capturing Maduro The president said early Saturday that the U.S. carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and captured the country’s leader.

NEW: Trump said the U.S. will temporarily "run" Venezuela until a leadership transition takes place after the U.S. military captured Maduro.

During the press conference, President Trump said the “lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have” during the strikes on Venezuela. Gen. Caine later noted that Cyber Command was among the US agencies involved in the strikes.

A who-done-it in Venezuelan cyberspace A massive cyberattack that crippled Venezuela’s oil and gas infrastructure bears many of the telltales of a U.S. operation, according to former U.S. officials and cyber experts.

Took a deep dive into the main cyber angle of the Venezuela conflict in today’s National Security Daily: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Pentagon watchdog says Hegseth’s Signal chats put troops at risk The inspector general produced two reports on the Defense secretary’s use of the messaging app to discuss sensitive Yemen strike plans.

NEW: The Pentagon inspector general says Hegseth’s Signal use endangered U.S. troops and missions and the department still lacks a secure messaging platform.

A neutral arbiter agrees: @politico.com violated our contract and its own journalistic standards when it deployed AI.

Our readers deserve news, not slop!

wbng.org/2025/12/01/p...

DHS expanding citizenship system for voter verification, despite concerns about potential disenfranchisement Twenty-six states are in line to use a revamped DHS system to check their voter rolls for non-citizens, although the network has raised concerns about privacy and accuracy — including if it could kick...

NEW: DHS is pushing ahead in building a searchable national citizenship system it wants to use to go through voter rolls.

Over 46 million voters have been run through the checks already.

www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

Oversight of the Congressional Budget Office | The U.S. House Committee on the Budget - House Budget Committee The Official U.S. Congressional website of The Republican Budget Committee

With the House coming back into session, the House Budget Committee has scheduled a hearing for next week — on oversight of the recently hacked Congressional Budget Office. Expect the intrusion to a top subject of conversation: budget.house.gov/hearing/over...

The top U.S. cyber agency isn't doing as much outreach during F5 cyberattack It's unclear if the lack of communication is due to the government shutdown or earlier workforce cuts.

CISA's stakeholder engagement division hasn't sent updates about the F5 intrusion in the last week, an industry source tells me.

and following RIF notices this month, the division is expected to host a town hall Thursday to discuss those cuts.

new from me: www.axios.com/2025/10/21/f...

I know this stuff isn't surprising anymore but I really can't stress enough how much everybody involved with CISA and cyber tried to keep the field nonpolitical and nonpartisan before this administration.