Trump ‘waved a white flag to Chinese hackers’ as DHS axed cyber advisory boards
The Trump Administration gutted key cyber advisory boards in its first days, as expert witnesses warned Congress about dire risks posed by cyberattacks rooted in China.
US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said the Department of Homeland Security’s directive to fire everyone on its advisory committees, including a handful of cybersecurity boards, sends a strong signal to China.
“Within his first two days in office, Donald Trump has already waved a white flag to Chinese hackers,” he told The Register.
“Disbanding the Cyber Safety Review Board while it’s in the middle of investigating the most damaging breach of America’s phone system in recent memory, is a massive gift to the Chinese spies who targeted Trump, JD Vance and other top political figures,” Wyden continued.
Also on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security held its first hearing since Trump took office, hearing urgent calls from expert witnesses to shore up America’s networks against foreign adversaries.
“As President Trump [took] office this week, the homeland has never been less secure,” retired US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery testified.
“While America does remain at risk from physical attack by terrorists and even missile attacks from Russia and China, the most persistent vulnerability is a threat of cyberattack,” he continued. “And make no mistake, China is America’s most capable and opportunistic cyber adversary.”
Montgomery, senior director of Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, also served as the executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.
He pointed to China’s Volt Typhoon intrusions, during which the government-backed goons deployed malware on American critical networks where it waits to be activated, “ready to disrupt and destroy US systems at a time of Beijing’s choosing,” as the cyberthreat that concerns him the most.
“As a military planner, I used to call this operational preparation of the battlefield,” Montgomery said. “China’s overarching goal in executing an operation like Volt Typhoon is to disrupt or degrade America’s rail, port, and aviation systems, so the US cannot rapidly mobilize military forces and get military equipment, personnel, and supplies to the battlefield.”
Montgomery was one of four infosec expert witnesses questioned by Congress during the committee’s first hearing since Trump took office.
CrowdStrike Senior VP of Counter Adversary Operations Adam Meyers, who has previously alerted Congress about risks posed by Chinese government-backed hackers, also testified at the hearing as did two former government officials turned private-sector security folks.
This included SentinelOne VP of Cybersecurity Strategy, Brandon Wales, who previously served as the executive director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, and Paladin Global Institute President Kemba Walden, who served as the acting National Cyber Director in 2023.
All four told US representatives that Chinese government attackers have burrowed deep into American networks in preparation for future destructive attacks.
“The PRC’s objective is unambiguous,” Wales said. “They are preparing for war on the networks of America’s businesses, infrastructure, and government agencies.”
This, according to Wales and other national security experts, will likely happen if and when China invades Taiwan. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated his intent for “reunification” with the island nation and Wales told Congress that Xi has made clear this will happen, by military force or otherwise, by 2027.
“This means the US, government, industry and allies have only two years to prepare to that end,” he testified. “The actions of the 119th Congress could prove among the most consequential in modern history.”
The hearing followed DHS’s announcement to dissolve all its advisory committees, including those focused on cybersecurity, despite its role in safeguarding the homeland and overseeing America’s lead cyber-defense agency.
The federal department established the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) — an org tasked with investigating major cybersecurity incidents. The CSRB previously issued a scathing report on Microsoft’s multiple infosec failures that allowed Chinese spies to break into senior US officials’ email accounts. At the time of its disbandment, it was in the middle of investigating the Salt Typhoon attacks on telcos.
Beyond the CSRB, the DHS action also retires other cybersecurity-related advisory boards including the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and US Secret Service Cyber Investigations Advisory Board.
“Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security will no longer tolerate any advisory committee that pushes agendas that attempt to undermine its national security mission, the President’s agenda or Constitutional rights of Americans,” a DHS senior official told The Register. ®
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