Major Cyberattacks Are Threatening the U.S., but Republicans Are Wary of the Agency That Defends Against Them

Cyberattacks from foreign actors are becoming more far-reaching and sophisticated, but the top cyber agency is often derided by the GOP.

Cyber security warnings

Republican lawmakers have had the agency in their crosshairs. Jon Elswick/AP

Cybercriminals and state-sponsored organizations successfully launched some of the biggest cyberattacks to date in 2024, targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and businesses. As the year ends, those attacks show no signs of letting up.

Last week, federal investigators revealed that a hacker organization allied with the Chinese government, known as the Salt Typhoon, infiltrated eight major U.S. telecommunications companies. The breach, U.S. officials say, provided the Chinese government access to communications of senior government officials and political figures like President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

“Cybersecurity is a huge problem,” Sen. Susan Collins told NOTUS. “The recently publicly reported infiltration by the Chinese into our telecom sets some great example of the extreme damage that cyberattack could do.”