A Public Breach of National Security
How Pro-Trump Riots Led to Data Leaks
When pro-Trump rioters stormed the capitol yesterday, the world witnessed the violent outcome of years of inciteful speech by Republican leaders. Lawmakers were evacuated into safe rooms and staffers barricaded themselves into offices in a lockdown unlike this country has seen before.
The enemies in this attack were not foreign terrorists, but our own citizens threatening the safety of the very country they say they to want to reclaim. Rioters went through papers, searched computers, and took federal government documents and furniture home as souvenirs. The lack of preparation (or will) to protect the capitol from violent riots led to a very public breach of national security that could have been much more deadly.
Yesterday’s riots were a terrifying example of how failures in physical security can lead to data breaches that have major national security implications:
1. Government papers were looted from congressional offices.
Rioters forcibly broke into congressional offices, left threatening notes on Speaker Pelosi’s desk, and took government documents home with them. Despite evidence online of their activity in the building, the passive police did not search or arrest the looters as they were escorted from the building. So, we will not know which documents were taken, their confidentiality level, or the full scope of the government information leaked from stolen documents.
The national security risk is even higher when we consider looters who pre-planned planned theft of documents of interest and are far-sighted enough not to brag about their finds on social media.
2. Stealing digital information was simple.
Rioters were in the buildings for over an hour, plenty of time to read and download information from privileged systems left unlocked in the panic. In comparison to the computer security breach last month, stealing government information has never been easier. This hack did not even require technical savvy. Rather, scared staffers reading the email telling them to take shelter left their computers unlocked, exposing confidential email account with potential government secrets for rioters to read.
3. The government looks unprepared to find rioters involved.
Retroactively tracking down rioters makes the government look weak on the international stage and can take away resources to protect against other security threats. The FBI is soliciting help from the public and using internet crowdsourced efforts to identify rioters because the police did not make arrests on the scene despite clearly illegal actions. Even after finger printing and investigation is done throughout the buildings, we can’t be sure what information was taken electronically or copied on camera phones.
The American government should take on a security mindset and assume a massive breach of government data to people who have demonstrated that they are prepared to commit treason.
4. It was a perfect day to be a Russian spy.
Anyone sporting pale skin and confidence could have entered the capital building armed and ready to steal electronic or physical documents from the US government. All seemingly without repercussions.
The pro-Trump infiltration of the capitol was a multi-layer failure to heed the warnings signs from the president, his family, and his lackeys in all levels of government. More importantly, the breach relays the truth that so many journalists, activists, and citizens have been saying for years: this is not a Trump problem.
Rather, this physical and data security breach was the culmination of unresolved racialized entitlement from the last 500 years of American history. And it resulted in a treasonous attack on our government officials and democratic processes.
We will all feel the consequences of this breach of national security and government trust going forward.
So many of my questions about yesterday’s attempted coup remain unanswered:
Why weren’t more national guard on standby in anticipation of additional security needs?
Why did social media platforms require a violent insurgence to stifle the violent hate speech of politicians, even if temporarily?
Why were white supremacists and armed insurgents treated with more passivity from law enforcement than civil rights protestors last year or military veterans protesting war?
Who will take responsibility for the mental trauma inflicted on our congressional members, their staff, and their families today?
If many government workers are infected with COVID from the unmasked rioters who entered the building, then what effect will this have on the upcoming transition of power?
Finally, how much longer do we the American people have to stand by and watch this absurd threat to our democratic rights, our safety, and our national security?
