Biden Actually Gave Putin a List of Critical Infrastructure Not to Carry Out Cyberattacks on in US
Source: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Biden said Wednesday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin spent a considerable amount of time discussing cybersecurity during their summit in Geneva, but part of the president’s remarks about that meeting are raising eyebrows.
Following two major attacks on Colonial Pipeline and meat producer JBS, Biden said “certain critical infrastructure should be off limits to attack—period—by cyber or any other means.”
He explained that he gave the Russian president a list of critical infrastructure entities to avoid.
“I gave them a list, if I’m not mistaken — I don’t have it in front of me — 16 specific entities; 16 defined as critical infrastructure under U.S. policy, from the energy sector to our water systems,” Biden said.
According to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, the 16 entities include: commercial facilities, chemical, communications, critical manufacturing, dams, energy, defense industrial base, emergency services, financial, food and agriculture, government facilities, healthcare and public health, information technology, nuclear reactors, materials, and waste, transportation systems, and water and wastewater systems.
“Of course, the principle is one thing,” Biden added. “It has to be backed up by practice. Responsible countries need to take action against criminals who conduct ransomware activities on their territory.
“So, we agreed to task experts in both our — both our countries to work on specific understandings about what’s off limits,” Biden continued, “and to follow up on specific cases that originate in other countries — either of our countries.”
Later in the press conference he told reporters that he asked Putin how he'd feel if a ransomware attack "took on the pipelines from your oil fields" and the Russian president "said it would matter," Biden recalled.
While Biden has previously noted that the U.S. does “not believe the Russian government was involved,” in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, they do think the criminals responsible reside in the country. Russia has denied involvement. The attack on JBS was also done by another Russia-linked group, the FBI said.
Social media users wondered why Biden would give Putin a list at all, when everything should be considered off limits.
Pollak: What Biden Did to Ukraine Is Worse than What Trump Did
President Joe Biden’s administration allegedly suspended $100 million in “lethal” aid to Ukraine ahead of his summit this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Without denying that allegation directly, White House Press Secretary said Friday that the administration gave $150 million in aid — including “lethal” aid — to Ukraine last week, and had spent the amount appropriated by Congress.
But the allegation concerned a separate package, said to be shelved by Biden aides.
If the allegation — reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by Politico — is true, then what Biden did is far worse than what Trump did in 2019, when he was accused of withholding military aid from Ukraine until it investigated Joe Biden for corruption. In fact, Trump had already provided crucial Javelin anti-tank missiles months before the hold on additional “security assistance” to Ukraine Moreover, the aid that was withheld was future funding, not ongoing funding.
It was also never clear that Ukraine was even aware that the Trump administration had withheld the aid, which was soon delivered anyway. And Ukraine was not the only country from which the Trump administration had withheld funds, over concerns about corruption and other issues.
One thing Trump had provided, which the Obama-Biden administration never did, was “lethal” aid that would make a difference in Ukraine’s fight to defend its borders from Russian invasion.
What Biden did, according to the reports, was kill a new package of “lethal” aid to Ukraine just days before his summit with Putin.
Psaki cited Biden’s statements of support for Ukraine as evidence that “we will stand unwavering in support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Unfortunately, Biden’s words and actions diverge sharply. Since Biden took office in January, he has given one concession after another to Russia, frequently leaving Ukraine out in the cold.
Biden gave Putin a five-year extension of the notoriously one-sided New START nonproliferation treaty, though Putin had only asked for one. (Trump had hoped to include China in a new round of nonproliferation talks; Biden threw that possibility away.) Biden also gave a green light to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Trump had opposed — and which will result in massive financial losses to Ukraine. Moreover, Trump met with Putin — in a grandiose “summit” — before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, despite the latter’s impassioned pleas to meet with him first.
Reports suggest that the Biden administration may have canceled the new aid after Russia “announced it would draw down troops stationed near Ukraine” before the summit with Biden. But if Putin brings the troops back, future aid could arrive too late.
Biden left a U.S. ally weakened, just to smooth relations with Putin. Trump was impeached for less.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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