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Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand Cyberwar

Rogue Valley

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Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand Cyberwar


The nominee is woefully unprepared for questions about the future of digital conflict....


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Simpleχity;1066115819 said:
Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand Cyberwar


The nominee is woefully unprepared for questions about the future of digital conflict....

:confused:


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:confused:

I'm not seeing the claim, based on Trumps replies.

I'm also suspicious that the article doesn't mention the extreme deficit on the subject by the other Presidential candidate.
 
Do YOU know anything about everything? :roll:

Neither does anyone else, and that goes for public figures too.

That's what expert advisor's are for. :coffeepap:
 
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There is a saying in business "You are who you hire".

You can't do it all yourself. You hire experts to do it for you.

I would expect Trump would hire better people because he looks at the job and the person, and doesn't see government posts as patronage jobs designed to produce a paycheck for party VIP's until the next administration wins again.

Trumps job is the job, not the party.
 
Simpleχity;1066115819 said:
Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand Cyberwar


The nominee is woefully unprepared for questions about the future of digital conflict....


defense-large.jpg

Donald Trump doesn't have to understand Cyberwar. He just has to appoint experts to understand cyberwar. Do we really think the president is omniscient? A president is as good as the experts he surrounds himself with...as good as his managerial ability... as good as his ability to appoint the right people and trust them to do a clearly defined job.
 
And so does Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, also come to mind.

And so does Al Capone...
 
That is a highly specialized field. I don't expect any politician to fully understand it. I expect them to appoint people who do.
 
Beyond Jimmy Carter, I'm sure none of our presidents fully understood nuclear physics. But all presidents certainly possessed an appreciation of the destructive potential of nuclear warfare.

It's fairly obvious that neither Trump nor Clinton possess a similar appreciation for the potential of cyber warfare, a national threat which will increase exponentially in the coming four years.

My bet is that neither esteemed candidate could name the nation that experienced a successful cyber-attack on its power grid in 2015.

I highly doubt either candidate is learned enough to appreciate that it will require months to replace any custom-designed EHV-LPTransformers damaged in cyber-attacks.

I'd also wager that neither presidential camp has formulated a coherent US policy/architecture regarding cyber-defense and cyber-warfare.
 
Simpleχity;1066116828 said:
Beyond Jimmy Carter, I'm sure none of our presidents fully understood nuclear physics. But all presidents certainly possessed an appreciation of the destructive potential of nuclear warfare.

It's fairly obvious that neither Trump nor Clinton possess a similar appreciation for the potential of cyber warfare, a national threat which will increase exponentially in the coming four years.

My bet is that neither esteemed candidate could name the nation that experienced a successful cyber-attack on its power grid in 2015.

I highly doubt either candidate is erudite enough to appreciate that it will require months to replace any custom-designed EHV-LPTransformers damaged in cyber-attacks.

I'd also wager that neither presidential camp has formulated a coherent US policy/architecture regarding cyber-defense and cyber-warfare.

I'm fairly certain Trump is familiar enough with the need for electronic cyber security that he has hired people to take care of it. I would agree he probably has no clue how the whole thing works.

Considering he has international business dealings, I don't see how you've made a case he is clueless on the subject.

We already know, by example, that Hilary certainly is.
 
Simpleχity;1066116828 said:
Beyond Jimmy Carter, I'm sure none of our presidents fully understood nuclear physics. But all presidents certainly possessed an appreciation of the destructive potential of nuclear warfare.

It's fairly obvious that neither Trump nor Clinton possess a similar appreciation for the potential of cyber warfare, a national threat which will increase exponentially in the coming four years.

My bet is that neither esteemed candidate could name the nation that experienced a successful cyber-attack on its power grid in 2015.

I highly doubt either candidate is learned enough to appreciate that it will require months to replace any custom-designed EHV-LPTransformers damaged in cyber-attacks.

I'd also wager that neither presidential camp has formulated a coherent US policy/architecture regarding cyber-defense and cyber-warfare.

A successful attack on any countries power grid is more devastating than sending in a standing army or bombing them into oblivion. Most modern cities are fully reliant on the power grid, and things lie computers going out could cripple all logistics, which would lead to mass starvation, as well as water supply issues.

The resulting chaos would destabilize a country, meaning if you wanted to destroy a modern country, just destroy it's power grid, as few anymore have a non computerized backup. One country I gorget which( i think switzerland but not sure) has a massive diesel generator almost 100 years old still running just as backup, so if the main power grid fails that old monster can still keep the city going, other cities do not have the option.
 
Simpleχity;1066116828 said:
Beyond Jimmy Carter, I'm sure none of our presidents fully understood nuclear physics. But all presidents certainly possessed an appreciation of the destructive potential of nuclear warfare.

It's fairly obvious that neither Trump nor Clinton possess a similar appreciation for the potential of cyber warfare, a national threat which will increase exponentially in the coming four years.

My bet is that neither esteemed candidate could name the nation that experienced a successful cyber-attack on its power grid in 2015.

I highly doubt either candidate is learned enough to appreciate that it will require months to replace any custom-designed EHV-LPTransformers damaged in cyber-attacks.

I'd also wager that neither presidential camp has formulated a coherent US policy/architecture regarding cyber-defense and cyber-warfare.
But Trump wasn't even aware of what the Nuclear Triad is.

I'd say that yes, no officeholder can know a great deal about EVERYTHING and yes, its beholden to those people to appoint capable advisors; however, at least a high-school level knowledge of certain topics is quite preferable.....especially for someone who will be sitting in the highest executive seat in the nation. Just my two cents.
 
Simpleχity;1066116828 said:
Beyond Jimmy Carter, I'm sure none of our presidents fully understood nuclear physics. But all presidents certainly possessed an appreciation of the destructive potential of nuclear warfare.

It's fairly obvious that neither Trump nor Clinton possess a similar appreciation for the potential of cyber warfare, a national threat which will increase exponentially in the coming four years.

My bet is that neither esteemed candidate could name the nation that experienced a successful cyber-attack on its power grid in 2015.

I highly doubt either candidate is learned enough to appreciate that it will require months to replace any custom-designed EHV-LPTransformers damaged in cyber-attacks.

I'd also wager that neither presidential camp has formulated a coherent US policy/architecture regarding cyber-defense and cyber-warfare.

Most of that is true, however, let's also keep in mind that we have yet to find anything Trump truly does understand about politics and public policy besides campaigning.
 
There is a saying in business "You are who you hire".

You can't do it all yourself. You hire experts to do it for you.

I would expect Trump would hire better people because he looks at the job and the person, and doesn't see government posts as patronage jobs designed to produce a paycheck for party VIP's until the next administration wins again.

Trumps job is the job, not the party.

There's another thread here that touches on this, about Trump's campaign manager.
 
Do YOU know anything about everything? :roll:

Neither does anyone else, and that goes for public figures too.

That's what expert advisor's are for. :coffeepap:

Given that a president's power is mostly focused on being, well, commander-in-chief, I sure as hell expect them to know something about everything having to do with foreign affairs and conflicts.

When I've been at the top of a structure, yes, I knew something about everything. I could give an intelligent answer to any question asked about any aspect of my organization. It would not be as detailed as the answers the people in those departments could give, but I knew what was generally going on, and I knew when to say, "This is something ___ is working on, and I'll be following up with them shortly."

That is the JOB of a leader. Their job is to have a little bit of knowledge on a vast array of subjects. All good leaders can do that. It's essential to them finding a way to make all the pieces work together, which is the function of a leader. Take all this stuff, and focus it into a direction in which to lead. Leaders are generalists -- big-picture thinkers. They have to know something about everything related to what they're overseeing in order to look at the big picture.

They are not asking him about biology or pop culture trivia. They are asking him about things a commander-in-chief should know something about. Even I know more about cyberwar than Trump does.

And even if we say it's the job of whoever he hires to do that job to keep him generally up-to-date, clearly he isn't good at that either, because I don't think he even knows what cyberwar is. And that's even more concerning. Not only is he clueless about most aspects of what a president does, but he is also clueless about how to hire the right people to teach him.
 
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Donald Trump doesn't have to understand Cyberwar. He just has to appoint experts to understand cyberwar. Do we really think the president is omniscient? A president is as good as the experts he surrounds himself with...as good as his managerial ability... as good as his ability to appoint the right people and trust them to do a clearly defined job.

How can he appoint the right people when he doesn't even know what the general job description is?

Yes, he does have to understand cyberwar on a general level, in order to hire the right people for the job. He has to understand everything on a general level in order to hire the right people. That's what leaders are: generalists.

No one is asking him to get into the nitty gritty of the subject. They're asking him about whether, on a general theoretical level, he thinks cyberweapons are a thing the US should consider developing or using before physical ones. All he has to know to answer that question is roughly what our tech capabilities are, and roughly how he feels about our political capital with certain nations we have tensions with. That's super broad stuff. Even I know something about that, as do many other reasonably intelligent lay-people.

That is an incredibly general question that any commander-in-chief should have a general ethos about even if they don't know exactly what's been going on that week with cybersecurity, in the same way a shop owner has a general ethos about how to handle security, but may not have any idea exactly what the security guard dealt with on that particular night. It is something he should be able to answer.
 
How can he appoint the right people when he doesn't even know what the general job description is?

Yes, he does have to understand cyberwar on a general level, in order to hire the right people for the job. He has to understand everything on a general level in order to hire the right people. That's what leaders are: generalists.

No one is asking him to get into the nitty gritty of the subject. They're asking him about whether, on a general theoretical level, he thinks cyberweapons are a thing the US should consider developing or using before physical ones. All he has to know to answer that question is roughly what our tech capabilities are, and roughly how he feels about our political capital with certain nations we have tensions with. That's super broad stuff. Even I know something about that, as do many other reasonably intelligent lay-people.

That is an incredibly general question that any commander-in-chief should have a general ethos about even if they don't know exactly what's been going on that week with cybersecurity, in the same way a shop owner has a general ethos about how to handle security, but may not have any idea exactly what the security guard dealt with on that particular night. It is something he should be able to answer.

Oh, stop. What was wrong with the answer he gave the reporter? Just another typical slam piece. You want to talk about the importance of Cyber Security?? And the Democratic candidate's email scandal where she didn't have the brains to realize the jeopardy she caused to secret communications? Now THAT'S ignorance.
 
Oh, stop. What was wrong with the answer he gave the reporter? Just another typical slam piece. You want to talk about the importance of Cyber Security?? And the Democratic candidate's email scandal where she didn't have the brains to realize the jeopardy she caused to secret communications? Now THAT'S ignorance.

How about the fact that it wasn't even grammatical, much less any sort of answer to the question asked? "I'm a fan of the future"? What kind of answer is that to anything he was asked?

Even if he'd said, "You know, I've been thinking of getting ____ on board, because s/he is really excellent on this stuff," that would have been a better answer. It would have displayed he at least understood what the word "cyberwar" means, and knew what field to look in to find someone who's an expert at it.

Firstly, I'm not a Hillary supporter. Secondly, I am really tired of his conspiracy theory. And thirdly, even if neither of those things were true, it does nothing to change the fact that Trump is less literate on international affairs than even Sarah Palin.

The fact that you don't think the other candidate is any good does not change that Trump knows less about the presidential job description than most 6th graders.
 
Oh, stop. What was wrong with the answer he gave the reporter? Just another typical slam piece. You want to talk about the importance of Cyber Security?? And the Democratic candidate's email scandal where she didn't have the brains to realize the jeopardy she caused to secret communications? Now THAT'S ignorance.

:shrug: Hillary's Ignorance (and negligence) does not excuse Trump's ignorance (and negligence). Trump has repeatedly demonstrated himself to be ignorant on basic matters of foreign policy and national security. That he would be ignorant on a critical but agreeably more arcane topic is hardly surprising.
 
:shrug: Hillary's Ignorance (and negligence) does not excuse Trump's ignorance (and negligence). Trump has repeatedly demonstrated himself to be ignorant on basic matters of foreign policy and national security. That he would be ignorant on a critical but agreeably more arcane topic is hardly surprising.

Yeah, well, I don't think he came off as ignorant.
 
Yeah, well, I don't think he came off as ignorant.

Well he did indeed attempt to stay generic....

but he also did indeed come off as ignorant. US Offensive Cyber ability is probably still unmatched, despite the massive damage done to it by Snowden. In no way is it "obsolete", and Trump has fairly solidly shown ignorance in this field before.
 
A successful attack on any countries power grid is more devastating than sending in a standing army or bombing them into oblivion. Most modern cities are fully reliant on the power grid, and things lie computers going out could cripple all logistics, which would lead to mass starvation, as well as water supply issues.

The resulting chaos would destabilize a country, meaning if you wanted to destroy a modern country, just destroy it's power grid, as few anymore have a non computerized backup. One country I gorget which( i think switzerland but not sure) has a massive diesel generator almost 100 years old still running just as backup, so if the main power grid fails that old monster can still keep the city going, other cities do not have the option.

That is one reason I'm so high on Tesla/Solar City merger and the decentralization of the power grid though individuals going off grid with solar roof installations. A national conversion to rooftop solar can happen much quicker than many realize just at current growth rates in the industry.
 
That is one reason I'm so high on Tesla/Solar City merger and the decentralization of the power grid though individuals going off grid with solar roof installations. A national conversion to rooftop solar can happen much quicker than many realize just at current growth rates in the industry.

As someone instinctively suspicious of that kind of hippy granola crap, I would love to be able to power my own house through solar / etc, and be able to sustain independently of the grid.
 
As someone instinctively suspicious of that kind of hippy granola crap, I would love to be able to power my own house through solar / etc, and be able to sustain independently of the grid.

Got a friend lives in the California interior in the Central Valley, his solar will pay for itself in about 8 years due to favorable solar conditions (you can read that as a 6 year drought if you want).
 
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