On the surface, it appears that U.S. President Donald Trump dropped the idea of a joint cyber unit to address future election hacking problems after violent reactions to the idea were expressed by netizens. Reports, however, surfaced that there are still negotiations to create the joint cyber security working group.
Reuters reported that Washington and Moscow are still discussing the plan, according to a Russian presidential envoy. Despite the possible legal trouble that the Trump camp could face because of the Russian collusion that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating, another Kremlin meddling could be underway again.
Not the best time now
The issue of the cyber security with America’s alleged hacker, Russia, surfaced on Saturday at the yearly Aspen Security Forum. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, rejected the idea of the joint cyber unit. “I would argue now is probably not the best time to be doing this,” Rogers said.
Even senior Republicans did not like the proposal of the President, especially because based on the assessment of American intelligence agencies, Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election by hacking the emails of Democrats. They then distributed online propaganda to help Republican candidate Donald Trump win against his rival Hillary Clinton.
Putin, however, denied that Russians colluded with the Trump camp to favor the real estate billionaire.
Trump likewise denied the accusation, but eventually, Donald Jr. admitted he, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with Russians who offered them a report that alleged the Democrats received dirty money from a Russian company that backed the Magnitsky Act.
Although Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who offered the information to the Trump campaign did not provide them the dossier.
The meeting suggested that Russia favored Trump and exerted efforts to make him win over Clinton.
Changes in Russia’s behavior
Even if Americans are wary of Trump’s suggestion, Rogers is not totally closed to the idea, but not for now. He said the joint cyber unit idea is something that could be built over time if there would be changes in the behavior of Russia.
Rogers was appointed to his post by former President Barack Obama.
He and Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence, were pressured by Trump to quash speculations that Russia meddled in the election, but he did give in to the president’s request, Gizmodo reported.
