our top story this evening is the
ongoing cyber attack against the united
states
and against america we've learned today
that the attackers used a number of
entry points
and methods of entry beyond the software
updates that were pushed to
clients for example of texas based
company solar winds
in a statement the cyber security and
infrastructure security
agency says this quote
it is likely the adversary the adversary
not the
enemy the adversary mind you has
additional
initial access vectors and tactics
techniques and procedures
that have not yet been discovered
can you imagine an agency responsible
for the security
of this country its cyber security and
infrastructure
could put out a lame message like they
just did imagine at pearl harbor
uh suddenly the intelligence agencies of
the united states saying this is going
to be a very difficult
difficult war to deal with we're just
going to have to
figure out what's going on this is
outrageous what we are watching in the
way of a response
from the federal government the cyber
attack
has left very little confidence among
citizens
that we as a nation are in control of
our own networks
have knowledge of what is happening on
our internet
which is undoubtedly the battlefield not
of the future
but of the present president trump
hasn't been seen in public since last
saturday's army navy football game
he hasn't tweeted about this attack nor
has he sent out
any statement his deputy press secretary
brian morgestern
today offered this response to a
question about how the united states
plans to retaliate
president trump has made clear well i'll
reiterate sort of
what i had said earlier which is that
federal government has stood up
interagency groups there are incident
response teams
some of the lead agencies include the
fbi dhs
odni um and the nsa
ambassador o'brien the national security
advisor is convening meetings daily if
not more than once a day
and he has been in the situation room
working with the experts across our
government to mitigate the effects of
any
incident and to make sure that our
country's secure going forward and we
will not
forecast any kind of action that we may
take to combat our adversaries
and sort of tip them off so we wouldn't
have any comment on that
that is what you call pure balderdash
they don't know what's happened they
have very little idea of what to do
apparently
and they're putting out lame statements
whether it's from the energy department
or from the white house press
office that will satisfy
no one acting defense secretary chris
miller today
met with the president at about 3 30
this afternoon
absolutely nothing has been divulged
about what the two
discussed congress is also taking up the
cyber attack against the united states
and some members
are comparing the attack to a
declaration
of war fox news correspondent mark
meredith is in washington and has
much more for us mark lou good evening
lawmakers have plenty of questions also
plenty of outrage though over this cyber
attack
showing how vulnerable american computer
systems are as you've been mentioning
so many questions though still left to
be answered earlier this week lawmakers
started to receive briefings from top
officials about what has been going on
behind the scenes
but they have also said there's still a
lot they don't know as you mentioned
illinois senator dick durbin saying this
is essentially a virtual declaration of
war
by russia we've also heard from senator
marco rubio florida also on the
intelligence committee
saying that this is a major concern
we're also hearing tonight from
republican senator susan collins of
maine she put out a statement about all
of this
kind of getting to the point i thought
it was interesting she goes this cyber
attack likely perpetrated by the
russians
spots lights the glaring vulnerabilities
of our federal cyber security system
the president should immediately sign
the ndaa the national defense
authorization act
not only to keep our military strong but
also because it contains significant
cyber security provisions that would
help thwart future attacks that emphasis
on future attacks the chairman of the
democratic house armed services
committee says the
solarwinds cyber operation bears every
hallmark of a sophisticated nation-state
activity
that can undermine our national security
and it is imperative that congress move
forward with oversight to understand the
impacts
and root causes of this campaign so
we're hearing that from lawmakers
not only demanding to know more
information but also want to know what
else can be done lou
to stop this you mentioned that we have
not heard from president trump on camera
or on twitter
about this cyber attack there's been a
lot of questions about
whether or not he would weigh in or not
you heard from the white house
spokesperson
but these questions lou you can bet are
not going to go away as lawmakers not
only want to know
what else is vulnerable but is there
another attack coming
lou do you think mark
the lawmakers you mentioned susan
collins others
have any understanding that this is an
ongoing attack
it isn't something where you sit around
and twiddle your thumbs and you talk
about
the possibilities philosophically
of six months a year from now this is an
ongoing
existential threat to the united states
and we have elected officials and
and officials of this government acting
as though
i i don't know i i'm stunned by the fact
they're not being transparent
and reporting to the american people who
have a right to know
the dimensions and the proportions uh
and the energy of this
highly kinetic attack on the united
states it may be cyber
but make no mistake this is war on the
united states
by an enemy how does that escape our
elected officials that's a rhetorical
question mark
uh my question is well i was going to
say the one factor in all of this can we
have we let me let me finish mark just
for a second then please please
uh have we received any information
about
our forces being put on high alert uh
have we
had any indication of any kind from any
source
that this government has moved to
respond to react
well you're asking about what's kind of
happening behind the scenes but there's
a big x factor in all of this and why
you're not
hearing from lawmakers more often why
you don't see people like me going up
with their phones basically chasing
people
in the hallways and that is because of
the pandemic right now there are just
fewer people around washington and those
institutions so many other people
working remote so maybe you're not
hearing from people directly as that but
the other factor in all this lou you've
got the government facing another
potential shutdown at midnight tonight
you've got the stimulus talks for the
coronavirus as well as the vaccine being
rolled out
of course this is important but you
imagine how many different priorities
also are being juggled here so trying to
keep the eye on one ball not easy but as
you mentioned lou a lot of lawmakers
starting to speak up realizing just how
bad this attack is lou
mark thank you very much an excellent
job of reporting uh and as i said
this is it has all the ear marks up
being
an existential attack uh even in the
midst of all of the challenges and
threats this nation
faces now and this president face uh
faces
it is certainly without question the
first
the first order of business for our
policy makers and leaders to
address