The door is open, and our adversaries know it

Credit: NYT

Credit: NYT

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have spent decades probing for cracks in U.S. defenses. Now those cracks are widening into open doors. Recent reporting has documented how the Department of Government Efficiency — the White House initiative informally overseen by Elon Musk — gained back-end access to sensitive networks at agencies including the Treasury and the National Labor Relations Board.

Internal controls were disabled. Security alerts silenced. A whistleblower at the NLRB even reported a thousandfold spike in suspicious network activity — what cybersecurity experts call a classic sign that data is being quietly copied and sent elsewhere.

In March, a Signal group chat involving senior Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, inadvertently included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. The chat contained detailed discussions and real-time updates about planned U.S. military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Despite the sensitive nature of the information shared, the incident was downplayed by the administration, with no formal investigation or accountability measures taken.

This week, the issue escalated when it was revealed that Hegseth shared additional sensitive military details via Signal, this time with a group that included his wife. The information pertaining to CENTCOM strike plans, raising further concerns about the handling of classified material. Once again, the administration’s response lacked transparency and accountability, treating the breach as a minor misstep rather than a significant security lapse.

From an adversary’s perspective, this isn’t just sloppy. It’s golden.

You don’t need a sophisticated cyber campaign to break into systems when senior officials are already handing out the keys. As the Office of Director of National Intelligence’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment made clear, China can map decision patterns through metadata alone. Russia can monitor how information flows through backchannels. North Korea can identify under-protected officials with oversize egos and poor discipline. Iran can focus on narrative warfare, ensuring the worst actors stay exactly where they are.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

These countries do not have to invent new methods. They just have to wait and watch. You wouldn’t rush to expose these lapses. You’d help preserve them. You’d plant disinformation that makes Hegseth look indispensable. You’d praise Tulsi Gabbard’s independence. You’d feed narratives that Trump is surrounded by saboteurs — but not the ones he already picked.

The irony? You wouldn’t need to invent any of it. The truth is absurd enough. America is now doing much of their intelligence work for them.

Our adversaries are also watching patiently as the Pentagon — long considered the most hardened and hierarchical of U.S. institutions — is showing cracks. Senior staff have been dismissed or sidelined for refusing to follow ethically questionable directives. Others have resigned in protest. What’s left is a growing number of disillusioned ex-officials, publicly venting on social media, still in touch with former colleagues and still in the loop — informally if not officially.

This is how recruitment begins. Not in secret bunkers, but with open frustration and a phone call that feels like therapy. Adversaries understand this. They understand how to wait, how to listen and how to offer a lifeline just when it’s needed most.

The vulnerability here isn’t just digital. It’s cultural. When security failures are no longer treated as aberrations but as politics-as-usual, the foundation begins to erode. These incidents aren’t one-offs. They are warning signs that have become routine: defended on TV, downplayed in briefings, ignored by those responsible.

The result is a strategic inversion. Adversaries are not reacting to our strength. They are recalibrating based on our weakness. They are adjusting their recruitment targets, reallocating resources and rethinking their posture — not because we’ve grown more secure, but because we’ve grown more predictable.

Consider the symbolism of a Secretary of Homeland Security losing her purse during a public dinner in Washington. Reports indicate it contained DHS identification credentials. The message to any adversary watching is clear: basic discipline is now optional, even for the Cabinet official nominally responsible for internal protection. It isn’t just a personal lapse. It’s an institutional metaphor.

Some will argue that raising these points hands a blueprint to our adversaries. That naming the gaps confirms them. But foreign intelligence services are already watching. They don’t need our confirmation.

And there’s still time to change course. In past crises, the U.S. national security community has shown its capacity to recover — to acknowledge, adapt and rebuild. But that only happens when discipline returns. When politics step back and the professionals are allowed to step forward.

Right now, from the outside, the view is obvious: the system is not being attacked from the outside. It is bleeding from within.

And the door? It’s not just unlocked. It’s wide open.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

Brian O’Neill is a retired CIA executive who has served in such leadership roles as deputy director of analysis at the National Counterterrorism Center and as executive editor of the President’s Daily Brief. He now teaches national security at Georgia Tech and contributes to the journal “Just Security” and other outlets.