The Trump administration has consistently curtailed U.S. efforts to harden critical infrastructure against hybrid threats. It has cut funding to key offices and departments tasked with these responsibilities, such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Resilience and Response Directorate in the National Security Council. While Congress cannot completely fill these gaps without executive support and collaboration, its annual defense bill, which passed the House on Dec. 10, aims to reverse this troubling course and recenter resilience in U.S. defense policy.

The 2023 Volt Typhoon hacking campaign, in which a Chinese state-sponsored cyber actor targeted critical U.S. infrastructure organizations, revealed why resilience should be a crucial focus of defense policy. By quietly burrowing into networks tied to energy, water, transportation, and communications, the operation highlighted how disruption can be banked in peacetime and harvested in crisis.

The Trump administration has consistently curtailed U.S. efforts to harden critical infrastructure against hybrid threats. It has cut funding to key offices and departments tasked with these responsibilities, such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Resilience and Response Directorate in the National Security Council. While Congress cannot completely fill these gaps without executive support and collaboration, its annual defense bill, which passed the House on Dec. 10, aims to reverse this troubling course and recenter resilience in U.S. defense policy.

The 2023 Volt Typhoon hacking campaign, in which a Chinese state-sponsored cyber actor targeted critical U.S. infrastructure organizations, revealed why resilience should be a crucial focus of defense policy. By quietly burrowing into networks tied to energy, water, transportation, and communications, the operation highlighted how disruption can be........

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