美国国家公共电台 NPR The U.S. Pledges A Harder Line In Cyberspace — And Drops Some Hints

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Efforts to stop Russia from interfering¹ in U.S. elections come from two of the most secretive parts of the U.S. government the National Security Agency and Cyber Command. They worked side by side at the same sprawling² campus in Fort Meade Maryland where the NSA monitors foreign communications. While cyber command takes action in the digital realm the army general who heads them both is a proponent³ of more aggressive measures. Here's NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It's a pleasure to introduce to you the commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, General Paul Nakasone.

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GREG MYRE, BYLINE⁴: Paul Nakasone usually doesn't say much in public. But recently, he's been on what amounts to a PR blitz. Here he is, in short sleeves and no tie, addressing a high-tech⁵ confab in San Francisco.

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PAUL NAKASONE: I have all the authorities that I need right now to conduct full-spectrum operations. That's defensive⁶ operations all the way to offensive operations. And when I don't have those authorities, I will certainly ask for them.

MYRE: Nakasone is driving home the point that the U.S. needs to directly confront rivals in cyberspace⁷. Here's what he said on Capitol Hill about countering Russian attempts to meddle⁸ in last fall's midterm elections.

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NAKASONE: For the first time, we sent our cyberwarriors abroad. We sent defensive teams forward in November to three different European countries. That's acting⁹ outside of our borders that imposed costs against our adversaries¹⁰.

MYRE: Over the past decade, the U.S. has been wrestling with the question of how to deal with cyberattacks. What's the proper response when China steals high-tech secrets from a U.S. company or when North Korea hacks¹² into Sony because that country doesn't like a satirical movie about its leader Kim Jong Un? Nakasone made clear he wanted to take a harder line at his confirmation¹³ hearing a year ago. Here he responds to Alaska senator Dan Sullivan.

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DAN SULLIVAN: What do you think our adversaries think right now? If you do a cyberattack on America, what's going to happen to them?

NAKASONE: So basically, I would say right now they do not think that much will happen to them.

SULLIVAN: They don't fear us?

NAKASONE: They don't fear us.

MYRE: President Trump¹⁴ has given Nakasone more authority, but this approach raises two big questions. First, will other countries stop attacking the U.S.? Probably not. Second, will this ignite a cycle of retaliation¹⁵ and escalation¹⁶? No one really knows. But we are getting a peek¹⁷ behind the curtain, says P. W. Singer, a cyber expert at the New America think tank.

P W SINGER: So you're seeing a change from keeping everything classified, not talking about anything to trying to share a little bit more information. And the reason is a belief that if you create awareness¹⁸, it makes the attacker's job harder.

MYRE: The U.S. now routinely names and shames hackers¹⁹.

THOMAS RID: A lot of countries can hack¹¹.

MYRE: That's Thomas Rid of Johns Hopkins University who says not a lot of countries can figure out who did the hacking²⁰. The U.S. can. Robert Mueller's team indicted²¹ 25 Russians for election interference by name and with details that could only be obtained by hacking their computers.

RID: So finding out who hacked²² you, finding the evidence and then assessing the evidence in a professional way - the attribution capabilities²³, these are hard to develop.

MYRE: The NSA took another unusual step recently, making one of its own software programs available to the public for free. It's called Ghidra, and it reverse-engineers malware that's been detected in a computer system. Now anyone can download Ghidra to analyze²⁴ malware and figure out how best to combat it. Of course, the NSA has its own history of planting malware abroad, notes author James Bamford, who's written about the agency for decades.

JAMES BAMFORD: The Russians plant malware and look for openings in various infrastructure²⁵ in the United States. It's exactly the same thing we do in other countries. It's not necessarily an act of aggression²⁶; it's just normal espionage²⁷.

MYRE: Whatever you call it, Nakasone says it's here to stay.

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NAKASONE: I think this is a new normal. It can't be episodic. You have to be involved every day. You have to be aware of what your adversary²⁸ is doing.

MYRE: Planning, he says, is already underway to protect the 2020 election.

Greg Myre, NPR News, Washington.

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1 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 proponent   

n.建议者；支持者；adj.建议的

参考例句：

• Stapp became a strong early proponent of automobile seat belts.斯塔普是力主在汽车上采用座椅安全带的早期倡导者。
• Halsey was identified as a leading proponent of the values of progressive education.哈尔西被认为是进步教育价值观的主要支持者。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

6 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

7 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

8 meddle   

v.干预，干涉，插手

参考例句：

• I hope he doesn't try to meddle in my affairs.我希望他不来干预我的事情。
• Do not meddle in things that do not concern you.别参与和自己无关的事。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

11 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

12 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网

13 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

14 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

15 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

17 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

18 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

19 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

20 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

21 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

22 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

23 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

24 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

25 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

26 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

27 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

28 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。