WASHINGTON — Both of Maine's senators participated in a rare public meeting of the Senate intelligence committee on the topic of cybersecurity. U.S. Sen. Angus King says it's clear to him that some other countries are waging a cyberwar against the United States and the U.S. needs to fight back.
"The cyberwar has started," he says. "And we are in the cyberwar with our hands tied behind our backs. We would never build a destroyer without guns."
King told Adm. Michael Rogers, chief of the military's cybercommand, the U.S. needs to retaliate against those that attack our computer systems with attacks of our own.
"We have got to fashion a theory of deterrence otherwise we are going to lose," King says. "You cannot defend, defend, defend, defend and never punch back. And if your opponent knows you are not going to punch back, it's just never going to go anywhere."
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says she is very worried that the nation's infrastructure is too vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Collins questioned Rogers on where U.S. is on a scale of 1-10 in readiness to protect infrastructure.
"Where do you think that we are on that scale?" she says.
"It varies by sector but on average I probably would say right now, again depending on sector, we are probably a five or six, it's not where we need to be, clearly. So there's still a severe problem in this area that makes us very vulnerable as a nation." Rogers says.
