White House Eliminates Security Council Cyber Adviser Role

The White House eliminated the position of cybersecurity coordinator on the National Security Council this week. The post was central to developing policy to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and the use of offensive cyber weapons, The New York Times reports.

A memo circulated by an aide to national security adviser John Bolton said the post was no longer considered necessary because lower-level officials had already made cybersecurity issues a “core function” of President Trump’s national security team.

Senator Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter: “I don’t see how getting rid of the top cyber official in the White House does anything to make our country safer from cyber threats.”

Bolton has advocated “streamlining” the NSC, which so far appears to involve reducing the number of new positions created over the past decade, the Times reports.

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