Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas struggled to answer over the weekend why the Biden administration has been unable to stop the ongoing “Salt Typhoon” hack from communist China on U.S. telecommunication companies.
Mayorkas was pressed on the issue during a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” when asked about the breach, which may be the largest in U.S. history as millions of Americans were hacked.
“Why hasn’t the U.S. government stopped it?” Brennan asked.
“The intrusion is a very significant one and an extraordinarily impactful one and an absolutely unacceptable one,” Mayorkas responded. “And the president has demonstrated a strong response to the People’s Republic of China. It is very sophisticated.”
Mayorkas claimed that President Joe Biden’s “strong response” to the hack was an action taken by the U.S. Department of Commerce against China Telecom.
“This is an ongoing situation. It is not static,” he said. “The intrusion is a very sophisticated one. The telecommunications companies are working very vigorously to remediate it. They are working in partnership with us, with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies of the federal government.”
He said that the hack was “a very serious compromise” that required a “very serious action to remediate and recover from it, and also very serious response to it.”
When asked why the U.S. government hasn’t yet stopped the sweeping Chinese hack of eight U.S. telecom firms, DHS @SecMayorkas tells @margbrennan “this is an ongoing situation. It is not static.”
“The intrusion is a very sophisticated one. The telecommunications companies are… pic.twitter.com/Q6jadP7oro
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 22, 2024
