During a speech he gave Monday at the Retired American Warriors Conference in Herndon, Va., Republican presidential nominee addressed the issue of cybersecurity in light of a number of high profile hacking incidents.
He said his speech was “just the beginning of a long and overdue national discussion” of how to address the issues brought about by modern cyber-crime, as well as the national security threats they pose. He also noted it is necessary for the U.S. to develop the necessary “cyber offense strategies” to gain a “critical security edge” in the 21st century.
Trump blamed the current headline-grabbing cases of hacking as further evidence of President Barack Obama’s failures. But, he also took a swipe at his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton’s only experience in cyber security involves her criminal scheme to violate federal law, engineering a massive cover-up, and putting the entire nation in harm’s way,” he said.
The following is a transcript of the entire speech:
To truly make America safe, we must make cybersecurity a major priority for both the government and the private sector.
Cyber theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States.
As President, improving cyber security will be an immediate and top priority for my Administration.
One of the very first things I will do is to order a thorough review of our cyber defenses and weaknesses, including all vital infrastructure.
Cyber-attacks from foreign governments, especially China, Russia, and North Korea along with non-state terrorist actors and organized criminal groups, constitute one of our most critical national security concerns.
Hillary Clinton’s only experience in cyber security involves her criminal scheme to violate federal law, engineering a massive cover-up, and putting the entire nation in harm’s way. The fact that a former Senator and Secretary of State claimed not to know what the letter “C” means is just one more example of why she’s unfit to hold public office.
The scope of our cyber security problem is enormous. Our government, our businesses, our trade secrets, and our citizens’ most sensitive information are all facing constant cyber attacks.
Just consider some of these recent hacks:
JP Morgan Chase had 73 million emails stolen.
E-Bay was invaded and gave up 150 million passwords.
Target was attacked and gave up 40 million credit card numbers.
Attacks like these are happening on a regular basis both in the United States and around the world, and the costs in our privacy, our security and on our financial sector are extraordinary.
Identify theft, financial laundering, as well as ransom ware—involving the extortion of a hacked institution—are all becoming increasingly common.
Incredibly, hackers were able to obtain at least 20 million identities of people who underwent FBI background investigations.
The information hacked contains facts discovered by the FBI in doing background checks for people seeking positions with the Federal Government. It is a treasure trove which can be easily used for blackmail.
The fact that this highly classified information was so poorly protected demonstrates that cyber security is just one more area where the Obama Administration has failed.
We should not let this be like the history of the Mafia which was allowed to grow into a nation-wide organization which infiltrated and corrupted so many areas of society for such a long time.
We can learn from this history that when the Department of Justice, the FBI, the DEA and state and local police and prosecutors were combined in Task Forces directed at the Mafia, they were able to have great success in prosecuting them, seizing their business interests and removing their infiltration from legitimate areas of society.
As President, I will instruct the Department of Justice to create Joint Task Forces throughout the United States to work together with Federal, State, and local law enforcement authorities and international law enforcement to crush this still-developing area of crime.
I will make certain that our military is the best in the world in both cyber offense and defense. I will also ask my Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs to present recommendations for strengthening and augmenting our Cyber Command.
As a deterrent against attacks on our critical resources, the United States must possess the unquestioned capacity to launch crippling cyber counterattacks. This is the warfare of the future, America’s dominance in this arena must be unquestioned.
Cyber security is not only a question of developing defensive technologies but offensive technologies as well.
For non-state terror actors, the United States must develop the ability—no matter how difficult—to track down and incapacitate those responsible. We should turn cyber warfare into one of our greatest weapons against the terrorists.
To enhance the defense of the other agencies of government, including our law enforcement agencies, we will put together a team of the best military, civilian and private sector cyber security experts to comprehensively review all of our cyber security systems and technology.
The Cyber Review Team will proceed with the most sensitive systems first, but ultimately all systems will be analyzed and made as secure as modern technology permits.
I will also require that follow-up reviews take place on a regular basis determined by the sensitive nature of the security involved.
The review will include providing exact recommendations for the best combination of defensive technologies tailored to specific agencies.
This will include the various methods of internal monitoring, attack and penetration, investigation of suspected hackers or rogue employees, and identity protection for government employees.
The review team will also remain current on the constantly-evolving new methods of attack, and will attempt to anticipate them and develop defenses as often as possible before major breaches occur.
This group of experts will set up protocols for each agency and government officials, requiring them to follow best practices.
They will also establish a training program for all government employees to make certain they understand what defenses are available and utilize them, along with a continuing education program so everyone is aware of the newest methods of both attack and defense.
Those who violate classification rules will be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law. I will appoint an Attorney General who will reform the Department of Justice like it was necessary after Watergate. My Attorney General will restore the integrity of the Department of Justice.
Today is just the beginning of a long and overdue national discussion of how to protect ourselves from modern cyber-crime and evolving national security threats, and how to develop the cyber offense strategies necessary to gain a critical security edge in the 21st century.
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