WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), Co-Chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, asked General Timothy Haugh – nominee to head the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command – about his plans to deter hacks and cyberattacks against the country and our digital infrastructure. Senator King’s questioning comes shortly after the cybersecurity firm Mandiant announced that suspected state-backed Chinese hackers had penetrated the networks of hundreds of organizations — a third of them being government affiliated.

“The cornerstone of our whole defense posture is deterrence,” said Senator King. “That's the basis of our nuclear posture. Also, our development of conventional forces. My concern is that in cyberspace, deterrence hasn't been a significant part of our arsenal, if you will. Basically, we don't respond very much. Now, I think [Cyber Command Chief] General Nakasone has responded effectively on elections, and we saw a diminution of Russian activity in ‘18, ‘20 and ’22, I think in large part because of that response. But there was a recent incursion attributed to China; I haven't seen any response yet. Talk to me about your role at Cyber Command in deterrence. We're calling it ‘hunt forward’ and various those kinds of things. But really, we're talking about, I want the Politburo worried about you when they think about discussing a cyberattack on the United States.”

“Senator, first, I think that both of our pacing adversaries are well aware of the capabilities that we have,” replied General Haugh. “The way we approach these problems and we think about integrated deterrence from a cyber perspective and how we partner with the interagency, with our allies, and with industry; we think about how do we generate insights? How do we understand and articulate that threat both inside and with our partners? Second is how do we enable defense? And then third is, if called upon, we impose costs.”

“That's the part that I'm concerned about,” continued Senator King. “There should be some level of apprehension about a response. Otherwise, they're just going to keep coming after us. We cannot patch our way out of this.”

“Senator, from our perspective, while not talking about any specific operations, how we approach our teammates in the interagency and how that we are able—it could be enabling a sanction, it could be enabling a very targeted démarche that's exposed in adversary activity, it can be public disclosure of those capabilities—those are cost imposing,” General Haugh responded.

“That's right. I'm not suggesting it has to be cyber for cyber, but there has to be some response,” concluded Senator King.

As Co-Chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC), and a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, Senator King is recognized as a leading expert on cyber defense in Congress. Senator King has been a consistent advocate for forward-thinking cyber strategy that emphasizes layered cyber deterrence. Yesterday, King provided remarks for the White House and Federal Communications Commission’s announcement of their cyber labeling program to increase user protection for internet-connected devices—an initiative that King has focused on for years.