Pentagon Official Calls the U.S. Cybersecurity "Kindergarten Level" and Quits
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- By Dawna M. Roberts
- Published: Oct 27, 2021
- Last Updated: Mar 18, 2022
Business Insider reported yesterday that a pentagon official quit because the U.S. had no chance of fighting Chinese hackers. He referred to U.S. cybersecurity as "kindergarten level" on his way out.
What Happened?
The Pentagon employed Nicolas Chaillan as its U.S. Air Force's software chief. In September, Chaillan abruptly quit. He told the Financial Times that his reason for resigning was that the U.S. is so far behind China on cybersecurity and A.I. He believes that the U.S. can't compete on the same level as China, and it's a losing game he refuses to continue to play.
" We have no competing fighting chance against China in fifteen to twenty years," he said.
Business Insider said:
"Nicolas Chaillan joined the U.S. Air Force as its first chief software officer in August 2018. He worked to equip it and the Pentagon with the most secure and advanced software available."
The former pentagon employee quit on September 2. After resigning, he posted on LinkedIn that the U.S. continues to fail at making cybersecurity a top priority making his job impossible.
In his interview with the Financial Times, Chaillan said,
"We have no competing fighting chance against China in fifteen to twenty years. Right now, it's already a done deal; it is already over, in my opinion."
He also slighted some government agencies by comparing them to "kindergarten level" when referring to their security infrastructure and protection.
The Larger Issue
The problem isn't one man resigning. It's the underlying issue that the U.S. fails to compete on a global level against foreign state-backed hackers despite huge budgets.
Many government offices have been attacked since 2020, leaking data and encrypting information with ransomware. One example, according to Business Insider, was "In April 2020, the U.S. Treasury, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and Department of Defense were compromised in the SolarWinds hack. Hackers were able to spy on the digital activities of staff and access some of their emails."
As part of his interview, Chaillan also confided in the Financial Times, claiming that
"U.S. national security was being compromised by Google's refusal to work with the Pentagon on A.I."
"Google stopped working with the Pentagon in 2018 after 12 employees quit over a project where Google helped the Pentagon make software that could improve the accuracy of drone strikes."
Meanwhile, backed by enormous funding, China is feverishly working towards A.I. and the development of high-level cybersecurity systems. According to Chaillan, China plans to become the A.I. superpower by 2030. In a report that came out in March, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence said the U.S. is "not prepared to defend the United States in the coming artificial intelligence (A.I.) era."
Chaillan said budgets are not the issue. The larger problem is where the government is spending its cybersecurity-allocated dollars. The former Pentagon official has not been shy in sharing his frustration on social media, where he wrote,
"I am just tired of continuously chasing support and money to do my job. My office still has no billet and no funding, this year and the next."
Chaillan is not the only critic stepping up to point out the glaring deficiencies in the nation's cybersecurity plans. Despite a public position of fortifying systems and feeding budgets, the government continues to be targeted and victimized by state-backed hackers that are simply better equipped.
Chaillan’s next move is to testify before Congress to urge the government to make changes now so that the country can be ready for whatever China throws at us.
As of now, the Pentagon has not responded to a request for comment.
