Exclusive: Gen. Paul Nakasone says China is now our biggest cyber threat
For nearly six years, Gen. Paul Nakasone led two of the most powerful — and secretive — arms of American national security: the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command. One listens. The other talks back.
Under the first Trump administration, Cyber Command got something it never had before: the green light not just to defend, but to be particularly aggressive in offensive cyber operations.
It was a turning point — a move from playing goalie to taking the shot — and offensive cyber operations have a way of being signals in their own right.
Late last month, Nakasone sat down with the Click Here podcast. He’s one of the architects of America’s cyber offense and in the half a dozen times we’ve interviewed him, he’s always been cautious and on message.
But this time, more than a year out of the job, he told us we could ask him anything. So we did. About China. About AI. And about what the current Trump administration might mean for America’s digital defenses.