Don’t say we get it wrong 100% of the time. This year’s US government threat assessment by the entire intelligence community again placed the cyber and counterintelligence threat above that of terrorism.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Katherine Archuleta rubs her eyes, as she testifies before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the data breach of OPM computers, on Capitol Hill in Washington June 16, 2015. Reuters.
More worrisome than the acts themselves is the increasingly political calculus and rationale behind these cyber penetrations—and the failure of deterrence by the US.
The OPM breach is the perfect example. In a warning act of déjà vu, the 2015 intelligence report also noted the vulnerability of OPM’s systems specifically based on a similar attack last year. In explaining the costs of data theft, the threat assessment referenced earlier unauthorized computer intrusions on the networks of the Office of Personnel Management as well as its contractors, both of whom are “involved in processing sensitive [personally identifiable information] related to national security clearances for Federal Government employees.” Unfortunately for those current and former federal workers and military servicemembers whose information was hacked and stolen, the government cannot say it didn’t warn us.



















