America's cyber defenses are being dismantled from the inside We almost lost the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database system, but that's only the tip of the iceberg of what President Trump and company are doing to US cybersecurity efforts. When it comes to technology security, let's face it. We're lame and we're lazy. But we don't normally go out of our way to make it …
If a persons actions consistently benefit an opposing nation state, then maybe it isn't incompetence, but overt espionage. A crime for which they can still put you up against a wall and shoot you in the US by the way. So the incompetence (and related incontinence) might be a smoke screen.
He's a perfect example of Dunning-Kruger, among others. He's already proven it time and time, and time... again. No maybe about it. In fact he may hold the worlds record for number of psychological disorders in one human being (I use that term only as a frame of reference here).
So if the Federal Government isn't appropriate to deal with space weather, why are we expected to make trade deals with it? Donnie shouldn't be posturing in front of the world, it should be State Governors making those deals, and State banks handling the financials. No more Bank of America, and while we're at it why not TEX$ and CAL$ instead of US$?
"No more Bank of America, and while we're at it why not TEX$ and CAL$ instead of US$?"
Given that there's nothing that the Fat Orange Oaf won't stoop to, that is a possible outcome. I'm sure he's going to try to weasle his way to get a third (and fourth term), I wonder if that will cause states like California to consider seceding?
Latest polls suggest that the 50-52% positive ratings he's had since being elected are starting to slip, but there's still 45% of potential voters dopes believe the shit that he spews.
Texas and California both have a lot of residents of Mexican heritage, but especially in Texas, the governing class is quite Anglo and would prefer to ignore the others.
Rhode Island was founded by an English dissenter, Roger Williams, not Germans. Pennsylvania was mostly German.
And space weather is just such a truly local issue as it may affect the drag on local State-managed satellites, as well as a few State's Local Positioning Systems (LPS) satellites here and there, and the within-State local telecommunication satellites also, over a couple of barns, maybe, as is well known.
Not to mention Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), Geomagnetic Storms, and the Solar Wind, that are clearly highly localized phenomena, best assessed and dealt with by individual Americans over the very small areas where they might occur, in the very few locales where they might do so, same as miniature crop circles and suchlikes.
So, yeah, space weather, most brilliant of the Brightly Glowing Orange Bulb in Plastic Cheese to Executively Order for it to be managed at "local, and even individual levels". I Just can't wait for my next chance to manage a CME, or even an Alien Anal Probe, hurrah for Covfefe!
I suspect that the actual plan with the NOAA etc. is to privatise them so the individual states would contract the new owners for the service. Just like healthcare, having customer base divided as small as possible hands all the negotiating power to the company.
This would create a new monopoly that Trump can bestow on the highest bidder.
Not only space weather but Earth weather as well. With the number of violent weather events that occur throughout the US cuts to NOAA threaten human lives and property almost every day. And thanks to the "mythical" human assisted/instigated climate change the number of these events has been increasing every year.
There are some things that are beyond price - and, from the point of view of statecraft, soft power is one of them. It’s the means by which a small country (take South Korea, for example) can bat well above its average, and a large country can amplify its reach considerably.
Some soft power is expressed through services like CVE, but humanitarian aid is another, leading the way on human rights, taking a moral (as opposed to a religious) stand. All of these things are being weakened or destroyed by the current American administration - and the principal beneficiary is likely to be China (which is all too well aware of the benefit conferred by the expression of soft power). Selfishly, I hope that the European Union also sees this as an opportunity to increase its own global reach.
Other soft power is cultural. Music. Films. Technology. Food. I don’t think that has been too badly impacted yet - but I can imagine a scenario where Trump pisses everyone off so much that there’s a general boycott of American goods and services - and then even this will be lost.
Actually, I am already doing my bit to try to boycott American goods and services. I have cancelled every Patreon and streaming service with US companies like Amazon Prime and will no longer buy my hobby workshop items from US companies. Maybe not a lot (although Mrs N might disagree) - but as they say, every little helps.
Actually in AU the out of season cherries†, grapes (not much now with local production all round), navel oranges and other citrus (for a few months) aren't sufficiently unwelcome to bother with boycotting - should the AUD/USD head off in favour of the US we might not afford their produce.
I would assume some Australian produce is also exported to the US in their off season which, excluding the carbon cost of the transport, is one of the mutual benefits of relatively liberal trade.
As for their "Food," AU was flooded by US franchises decades ago (we even have Taco Bell) most of whose thresholds I am fortunate in never having the need to darkened with my presence.
† I look forward to the few weeks the US Rainier cherries are available here. They don't seem to be grown in AU or not in quantity.
Amazon, Netflix, KFC (my biggest personal loss) as well as any US fast food chain, I never bought Apple. But to be honest "Made in America" is not a label I have ever seen. Made in China for sure.
Not staying in American hotel chains, not using Air B&B, Uber, Justeats. Its a bit of a task but I am willing to put the effort in. He is such a (Orange)dickhead.
FYI Booking.com headquartered in the Netherlands, Spotify in Sweden, American content can be downloaded for free via BitTorrent.
"hope that the European Union also sees this as an opportunity"
Me too, but the EU is going to have to first get around to making two huge changes.
The first is voting for stuff in days and weeks rather than years and decades.
The second is to accept majority vote rather than an absolute agreement, because certain countries that don't share European values (and look to the east) can stymie things by their obstinacy.
"certain countries that don't share European values (and look to the east) can stymie things by their obstinacy."
If not to deploy a few tanks on a good will visit to the capitals of the obstinate and enhance their sharing of "European values?"
Prague and Budapest both increased their sharing of Soviet values after similar goodwill visits from bloc partners. Although it's curious how the same usual suspects turn up.
I suppose China could take over the CISA functions and maintain the CVE database. Provide that as an altruistic contribution to the world's software community and earn some of those "soft power" good boy points.
Oh, and expose all the NSA backdoors it finds in various networking gear while they're at it.
1. "the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), established under the previous Biden administration"
Trump hates Biden, on his first day as President he literally signed an executive order cancelling all of Biden's Executive Orders. Trump wants to revoke everything Biden's administration did, even those that were 'no-brainer' decisions that everyone agreed with at the time. Remember that Trump claimed former President and Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter died happy because 'Biden was a worse president'.
2. "supported by a competent, accessible, and efficient Federal Government"
Now this is not just a criticism of Trump, or Biden, but every* government has its inefficiencies. The issue here is competence. In his first term Trump actually hired competent, sometimes even highly competent people (Mr Krebs for IT security springs to mind as an example), then as he realised that they would speak truth to his power (at least in private) he got tired of them, dissed them and where he could, sacked them (see current spat with the Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank).
The issue here is not merely that the USA, the worlds largest economy, and most powerful military ever seen on Earth is heading towards serious self-harm, but that we foreigners are powerless to stop it, and they will take us with them. Suppose that Trump, Vance, Rubio et al really do get tired of supporting Ukraine against Russia, and just 'walk away' this month. No more arms, no more shared intelligence, no more financial support from Uncle Sam. Could the Europeans with non-European NATO members really fill that gap immediately?
And then there is the attack on the USA's higher education and science research base, as exemplified by the requirements on Harvard and Columbia universities. In his previous term he attacked climate science because it did not fit in with his policies. Now he is sacking the scientists who do the actual work collecting and analysing data, designing satellites to collect data etc (cuts at NASA science seem to be severe to catastrophic).
So it is not just the Cyber / IT security that is being hollowed out, it is everything that poses a potential threat to Trump's fantasies.
The trouble is that the Trump supporters who read articles like this see only attacks to be rejected, not arguments to be answered.
*I do mean every government, this is not just a USA problem. Find a national politician in any country who does not want to 'cut government waste'.
USAID, NOAA, NASA, FEMA, Parks and Recreation, and many more. In other words just about every government agency that actually helps Americans. Well average Americans to be exact. I have no doubt that cuts can't be found in every government agency, looking at you $1 trillion dollar Pentagon, but the chainsaw approach can only severely damage these agencies, some beyond repair. I'm not so sure that without added income that they can "fix" the budget deficit. So that leads me to the conclusion that "the cruelty is the point".
And now the long term Covid-19 vaccination study: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/24/global-covid-vaccine-data-nework-safety-doge-funding-cuts
"Global study on Covid vaccine safety falls victim to Trump cuts
Groundbreaking project has produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety
"The groundbreaking five-year project to evaluate the safety of Covid vaccines across hundreds of millions of people received more than NZ$10m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021, but after a recent funding review by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), it can no longer finish the project, Petousis-Harris said.
The network looks at data from millions of people to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, analyse risk and benefits and respond to issues such as vaccine hesitancy."
"In other words just about every government agency that actually helps Americans. "
One story I read told of how staff at a national park had been sacked en masse with little notice. It was the people that scheduled and managed cabin rentals and I think campground spaces too.
I have faith that he is wrong and will be proven to be wrong at every turn.
He has wasted huge amounts of effort and 10 trillion dollars on tariffs. In 3 months.
Al his steps will be missteps. All his effort will be in denying, blaming others, vindictivness, and recovering from his own gaffs.
He won't have time to hurt anyone but his own.
That is exactly what happened last time. This time it will be more exaggerated.
Pillow guy lost millions. Elon Musk has lost hundreds of billions.
That will continue.
Just take one step back and give him a pistol.
No he did not cancel ALL of Bidens executive orders.
Particular to this topic, Executive Order 14028 of May 12, 2021 (Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity) is still going strong.
Federal implementation and enforcement of standards for Cybersecurity are getting stronger and have not slowed down.
The point about "Soft Power" is more on accurate. The decline of globalism is taking the world on a path towards increased state, national, and regional regulation.
International businesses will find life harder, International criminals will find it easier.
Sorry, I heard that he had. Checking on the White House Web site he did rescind a vast amount:
"RESTORING COMMON SENSE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order rescinding a second round of harmful executive actions issued by the prior administration, continuing his efforts to reverse damaging policies and restore effective government.
This Executive Order rescinds 19 executive actions signed by President Biden.
This is in addition to the nearly 80 executive actions President Trump rescinded on Day One.
In just two months, President Trump has rescinded more executive actions than the total number of executive orders President Biden signed in his entire first year.
..."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-rescinds-additional-harmful-biden-executive-actions/
"In just two months, President Trump has rescinded more executive actions than the total number of executive orders President Biden signed in his entire first year."
The larger issue is Congress and the Judicial branch not reining in how Executive Orders can be used. In the past when it could take a month to assemble a quorum in Congress, it was important that the President could instigate emergency actions without delay since Congress takes lots of breaks. Just getting messages to Congresscritters could have taken a week or more. Today, communications are available in real-time and Congress could assemble enough members in a few hours to vote on something. Hours can still be too long for a few things, but that's where the limits need to go. The EO's also need to be subject to congressional review and approval.
The whole US government has lost the plot. Thanks to the ultra competent Trump and his " the best people , the very best " They're hilarious to watch " at work " dismantling every bit of the USA they lay their hands on. Yet they have 4 more years to keep the massacre , i mean the fine work making " America First " , going.
What a joke.
think he actually had some good people in his first term. the problem is they didn't do what he wanted. so this time he's making sure that everyone around him can hear a dog whistle and comes rushing up with their buts wagging and their tongues hanging out, just lie he does when Putin blow his whistle. Has learned a lot since his first term.
"It's the global catalog that helps everyone – security teams, software vendors, researchers, governments – organize and talk about vulnerabilities using the same reference system."
Exactly. If there CVE catalogue is dismantled, software vendors, manufacturers, etc can openly ignore any software/security vulnerability. Money saved by NOT FIXING software/security vulnerability discovered means several executives will get their beloved 400 foot yacht they've been drooling for the last 25 years.
Dismantling of the CVE catalogue is every electronics & IT manufacturer's wet dream!
This is no different to DJ Trump's plan to cut >10% to the U.S. Forest Service staff. "About 75 percent of agency staff are trained in wildland firefighting."
Insurance companies rejoice! Happy days are back! Rejoice!
I've worried that we have someone up top now that may be compromised in some way, and that's why all these seemingly "crazy" things keep happening...because if it weren't just crazy, it'd be like someone is intentionally turning us against our ally's, dismantling key parts of our infrastructure etc. That said, there IS a shit ton of "Golden Toilet" bs happening here that does need taken apart...So its damn hard to tell.
Trump has said that he will increase defence spending and surely a big chunk of that must be cyber related? The US military use systems for which vulnerabilities are tracked using the CVE service so they will have to track vulnerabilities independently now - how is that efficient?
Maybe some of the staff that have been let go may find opportunities in the military but Hegeth only wants "fit" soldiers! I think I am wasting my time trying to find any grain of common sense relating to this shambles.
Yeah, much of this "returning power to the States" thing seems to be related. Lots of smaller teams/authorities/groups all replicating each others work. Surely as a "great businessman and dealmaker, a genius no less", he's heard of "economies of scale"? Using business logic, surely it must be more efficient to just have one big federal government and do away with all that "wasteful duplication" in the 50 States? Maybe someone should whisper that "golden fact" to him so he can come up with a "genius idea" that "some people are talking about" and piss off all the State Governments at once. I wonder how long it would take for the tide to turn if his next great idea was Federal consolidation?
I agree. It would be dumb for each of the 50 states and other territories to create individual cyber teams. It would be rather …inefficient.
The states should instead create a single common organization to deal with this. Each state could fund it via say…tax payments.
We could call it the central state government. Because Federal govt is already taken.
iI wouldn't trust these idiots to secure a slide rule,
They would certainly lose the cursor and likely insert the slide back to front and/or upside down if they could manage to extract it from their backside.
Of course covered in shit like everything their sort touches.
"I agree. It would be dumb for each of the 50 states and other territories to create individual cyber teams. It would be rather …inefficient."
State systems are still vulnerable to hacking so it's worthwhile for states to have the ability to detect and counter them. What else would they do? Call the hotline and wait on hold while a recording tells them that due to an unusually high number of calls there will be a delay and to please stay on the line? "Your call is very important to us". Click, brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Everytime I read one of these stories I find myself curled into a tight fetal position on my office chair rocking slowly back and forth. I am trying to take comfort from the fact that American voters are "special". It can not happen here. Here our voters are different, they are educated and not prone to misinformation. It can not happen here. We have checks and balances. Sure the USA has judges and a 'Congress", but they only get away with ignoring their responsibility in the USA? Right? The USA is "special"! I consider while rocking back and forth if sucking my thumb will help. Wondering where I can move to where the voters are not "special"...anyone want to go partners into building an O'Neil cylinder with a fusion drive? (Nobody "special" need apply.)
R. Reagan: The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.
Almost 50% of the US voting public (well, those that voted in Nov. 2024) think that the federal government is a problem.
Wait until they find out what life is like when the federal government starts disappearing.
While people focus on Russia, that's geography and not class. This is a class war. These are the world's oligarchs, people so wealthy that they have no particular loyalty to any nation, and who operate outside the laws of any nations, who have set their sights on America.
Look at what happened when the USSR fell - the oligarchs basically walked in and took public resources, former "government" resources, and pocketed them. And Putin, being the biggest thief, was left in charge.
Now they're looking to do the same thing in the USA. Dismantle it, remove all laws and regulations, and seize for their own anything they want. Who's going to stop them? Nobody.
Anyone with enough power is bought off, and anyone who won't be bought off will be "investigated" or eventually simply disappeared.
And the media sanewashes the whole thing... because the media is owned by the oligarchs!
It's going to take labor actions to change this, because withholding labor and shutting down the system is the only way to impact the wallets of the oligarchs.
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