Urging 78-year-old President Joe Biden to go on the offense over cyber attacks, 61-year-old Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said more must be done to stop cyber crime from foreign actors. Schiff was best known for fabricating evidence of Russian collusion on former President Donald Trump, saying, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his $40 million, 22-month Final Report March 23, 2019 that he found no collusion by Trump or anyone on his 2016 presidential campaign. Schiff ‘s answer to Mueller was that he had undeniable evidence that Trump conspired with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. Only one small problem, Schiff never produced one iota of proof for his four years of allegation against a sitting president. Facts didn’t matter for the Democrat operative that weaponized his intel committee to sabotage Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
Now Sshiff wants Biden’s White House to embrace his wisdom of launching retaliatory attack against any country, principally Russia, of launching cyber-attacks on the U.S. Sschiff said Bide should “go more on the offense,” having recently met for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin June 16. Biden considered threatening Putin with more sanctions or retaliation for recent cyber attacks on Colonial Pipeline or JBS meatpacking but decided to keep his powder dry. Schiff now advocates using a big stick against the Russian Federation, something that only makes U.S.-Russian relations worse. Biden apparently asked Putin in the June 16 summit if there was anything he could do about alleged Russian-based hacking. Putin told Biden thaere was nothing he could do to stop cyber crime on U.S. or foreign companies, something Schiff doesn’t buy, urging Biden to slap Putin with more sanctions.
Former Trump national security official Fiona Hill hoped that Biden would engage with Russia on cyber-crimes. Hill would like to see Biden and Putin engage in serious cyber talks, something unlikely because Putin says he has no control over cyber criminals living in the Russian Federation. Schiff’s playing tough-guy just like he did with Trump for four years accusing him of utter nonsense, even after Mueller released his final report showing no Russian collusion. Schiff told CBS New “Face the Nation” that he wanted the White House to get tough with Putin, holding him accountable for cyber-crime on Russian territory. “We do have to go more on offense. And I think that means that when we identify cyber groups that are working in conjunction with foreign states . . “ Schiff recommends attacking foreign states with cyber-warfare, even if they’re not responsible for the crime.
If Biden followed Schiff’s recommendations, the U.S. would be in a nuclear exchange to the Russian Federation. “That we treat them as a arm of the state and that we use our cyber capability to destroy or disrupt the infrastructure they’re suing to raid whatever funds they’re accumulating from these attacks,” Schiff urged Biden. Schiff’s formula would apply to Mexico where drug cartels run rampant, despite the government’s best efforts to stop the beheadings and mass shootings. Yet if Biden followed Schiff’s logic, the U.S. would be in a cyber-war with Mexico because they can’t control drug cartels and gangs. Schiff logic is about the same as insisting that Trump was a Russian agent, engaged in conspiracies with the Kremlin without facts or proof. Schiff’s approach to enforcing cyber-crime would be to hold sovereign states responsible for criminal gangs.
If Trump met with Putin, not Biden, Schiff would have said Trump colluded with Russia to advance cyber-criminal activity. “We need to develop an international rule of road where if a nation doesn’t take action against cyber groups operating on its soil, we hold that nation responsible . . . “ Schiff said, urging Biden to take a tough stance of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Schiff’s foreign policy would essentially declare war on any rogue state whose criminal gangs operate with impunity but sovereign states would be held responsible in Schiff’s world. Schiff would easily invite WW III, attacking other countries even where they have no responsibility for criminal gangs operation on their soil. “We hold that nation responsible, which means we sanction that nation, which means we used that nation’s resources to indemnify against any losses,” Schiff said.
Schiff’s cyber plan would get the U.S. into WW III, planning aggressive action toward U.S. adversaries suspected of cyber-crime on their soil. Schiff likes to make headlines especially when it comes to Trump. Now that Trump is out of the picture, he turns his attention to even more destructive activity, urging the State Department to hold the Russian Federation accountable for cyber-bulling and blackmail. Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have nothing to do with the cyber-gangs that operate on Russian soil for the purpose, like Somali pirates in the Horn of Africa, of blackmailing governments and companies. Biden tried the accusatory approach for the first six months of his presidency, only to watch it backfire. Now that Biden’s righted U.S. foreign policy to stopping attacks on Russia and China, Schiff thinks Biden should revert to his old belligerent ways.
