Senate Confirms Gen. Rudd to Lead Cyber Command, NSA

Is Rudd a battle-tested cyber defender or an unqualified threat to privacy and national security?

Published 1 day ago

Senate Confirms Gen. Rudd to Lead Cyber Command, NSA

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Above: Joshua Rudd at his confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 29. Image credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Spin

Republican narrative

Rudd is a war hero with unmatched battlefield experience, making him the perfect leader to defend America from relentless cyberattacks by China, Russia and Iran. Democrats' delaying of his confirmation was reckless and put troops and the homeland at risk. Battle-tested leadership is exactly what's needed to maintain cyber dominance and protect the nation at scale.

Roger Wicker on X Tom Cotton's U.S. Senate Office

Democratic narrative

Rudd should not have been confirmed. He has an inadequate understanding of Fourth Amendment privacy rights and has refused to commit to protecting Americans from warrantless surveillance. He also has insufficient cyber experience and will be learning on the job during a war, leaving the country vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.

Ron Wyden on Substack

Marcy Winograd on X

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 10% chance that a cyberattack targeting AI systems will cause a significant power blackout in the United States before Jan. 1, 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.