New State Dept. cyber bureau stirs concern

A newly established State Department bureau focused on cybersecurity and emerging technologies could give the Biden administration a launch pad for strengthening ties with allies after a massive Russian hack on the federal government.

Yet the office is also facing pushback from both sides of the aisle amid concerns that it was rushed into creation by the Trump administration, and that it may make matters worse at an agency that has been without a dedicated cyber office for almost four years.

“We have really starved this area of cyber diplomacy, and we should be leading on this … and this ties our hands a bit,” Christopher Painter, the former State Department cyber coordinator under both the Obama and Trump administrations, told The Hill on Friday.