Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was recently greeted with total silence, namely when he aggressively grilled a panel filled with presumed cybersecurity officials. Specifically, Cruz demanded to know why China has not faced any sanctions whatsoever, despite the recent attack on Microsoft and several other U.S. companies.
During the hearing, Cruz demanded to know whether or note the panel had any answer or response with regards to why the Biden administration has failed to sanction China, especially when considering “repeated cyberattacks over and over and over again against the United States?”
Once Cruz made his inquiry, the panel of cybersecurity officials who hail from the Justice Department, as well as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, were completely silent in response.
Sen. Ted Cruz to DOJ, FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Secret Service: "Do you have an answer as to why the administration has not sanctioned China for repeated cyber attacks over and over and over again against the United States?"
Crickets in response. pic.twitter.com/hZCAdFdwCz
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 27, 2021
After providing the panel with ample opportunity to response, Cruz continued to speak after the silence persisted.
“I think that’s a question the [Biden] administration should answer,” Cruz stated, adding that demonstrating clear weakness to China, as well as clear weakness to Russia, will merely serve to invite “more aggression,” which includes “more cyberattacks” on the United States.
Cruz’s line of inquiry originates from a move made by the Biden administration earlier this month, mainly when it decided to blame the Ministry of State Security in China for the massive hack against the Microsoft Exchange Server, which in turn compromised the security of tens of thousands of computers around the world.
Just this past Monday, Biden was asked why his administration did not bother passing any sanctions against China after the brazen attack, though Biden insisted that various officials are still working on “determining exactly what happened.”
This response stands in stark contrast to Biden’s response to Russia, namely when he sanctioned the nation after the cyberattack on SolarWinds.
Biden claimed that his “understanding” of the situation is that the Chinese government, “not unlike the Russian government, is not doing this themselves but are protecting those who are doing it,” though Biden also admitted that the Chinese may be “accommodating them being able to do it.”
“That may be the difference,” Biden continued, as a purported justification for not sanctioning China.