Kaptur Leads Colleagues In Urging President Trump to Address Escalating Cyber Threats Ahead of Meeting With Dictator Putin In Alaska

August 15, 2025

Toledo, OH – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus alongside Ukraine Caucus members Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10), and Congresswoman Julie Johnson (TX-32), sent a forceful letter to President Donald J. Trump urging him to directly confront Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Alaska over ongoing and intensifying cyberattacks against the United States that threaten American national security and homeland security.

“The American people deserve a government that meets cyber warfare with unwavering strength and focus, not one that leaves our defenses underfunded and distracted,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09). “When our courts, critical infrastructure, and communications are under siege, we must meet those threats head-on. Not with political theater, but with decisive action. The real problem with Trump’s Presidency is that he creates all this noise and drama and his own quagmires at the expense of what we should be focused on, our national and homeland security. It’s like a cat that chases its own tail while being stalked by a bear."

“Donald Trump is all bluster when it comes to war criminal Putin,” said Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-37). “The president has an opportunity to truly put ‘America First’ by confronting serious Russian cyber threats to our national security and supporting Ukraine after the ongoing murders of thousands of Ukrainian civilians. If this becomes only a conference to appease Putin, similar to the 1938 appeasement of Hitler, Ukrainians will lose, Europeans will lose, and Americans will lose.”

“Protecting our country from cyberattacks is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government and should never be a partisan issue,” said Congressman Dan Goldman NY-10. “Yet President Trump continues to cozy up to Vladimir Putin and other hostile foreign actors responsible for many of these attacks, while also crippling critical intelligence agencies by slashing budgets and diverting resources. Both actions put the American people and our democracy in grave jeopardy. President Trump's recklessness endangers our national security, public safety, and the global standing of our democracy."

“Cyberattacks from Russia and other hostile nations represent direct assaults on our courts, our infrastructure, and the safety of every American family. These breaches put witnesses at risk, threaten the integrity of our justice system, and can cripple vital services we all rely on," said Congresswoman Julie Johnson (TX-32). "Yet instead of strengthening the agencies charged with defending us, the Trump Administration has slashed their resources and diverted them to political sideshows. That is reckless and dangerous. As President Trump sits down with Vladimir Putin, he must make it crystal clear: the United States will not tolerate these attacks, and there will be real, serious consequences for every act of aggression. As a member of both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Homeland Security Committee, I’m committed to making sure America’s security remains our highest priority and not used as a bargaining chip during negotiations.”

The letter warns that repeated cyber breaches, from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack to the recent hack of the federal judiciary’s case filing system, have left critical American infrastructure and national security vulnerable. The Members also cite Chinese-linked operations, including the 2023 surveillance balloon and state-sponsored hacks, as examples of the urgent need for stronger, better-resourced defenses.

The Members express deep concern that the Administration has weakened the very agencies responsible for defending against these threats by cutting budgets, reducing staffing, and diverting resources to politically motivated operations rather than genuine national security priorities.

The letter calls on President Trump to:

Raise the issue of the judiciary breach and broader hostile cyber activity directly with Putin, making clear that continued attacks will bring serious diplomatic and economic consequences.
Restore and expand staffing and funding for DOJ, FBI, and CISA to match the scale of today’s cyber and counterintelligence threats.
Launch a coordinated federal initiative to close known vulnerabilities in the judiciary’s CM/ECF system and other high-risk federal networks.

Protecting the safety of American citizens, ensuring the resilience of critical systems, and preserving the credibility of US national security requires urgent, coordinated action.

You can find the full text of the Members letter below or by clicking here:

Dear President Trump,

On the eve of your meeting with the murderous Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, we write to express urgent concern that your Administration is failing to address the most pressing national security threats facing our nation from Russia and our other adversaries. In the last five years, our country has endured repeated and escalating Russian attacks on US systems and infrastructure:

The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack (2021) by Russian criminal hackers disrupted fuel supplies across the East Coast.1
The JBS cyberattack (2021), also traced to Russian actors, disrupted the US meat supply chain.

The most recent breach of the federal judiciary’s electronic case filing system (CM/ECF) is a stark example of the danger. Russian-linked hackers are believed to have stolen sealed case data, source code, and information that could jeopardize witness safety and ongoing prosecutions. This is not the first such incident; an almost identical intrusion occurred in 2020 and exploited the same vulnerabilities that have gone unaddressed for five years despite repeated warnings. Today, some federal courts have been forced to revert to pen-and-paper operations to protect their most sensitive work.

There have similarly been numerous attacks from China.

The Chinese surveillance balloon incident (2023) traversed the continental United States collecting intelligence before being shot down.
The Chinese Communist Party state-backed hack of US government emails (2023) compromised sensitive diplomatic and security communications.
The Volt Typhoon campaign (2023–2024) saw Chinese cyber operators target US water utilities, ports, and energy systems to pre-position for possible disruption.

All of these incidents required stronger, more coordinated, and well-resourced defenses. Instead, we have seen those defenses weakened by budget cuts, workforce reductions, and the diversion of critical agencies toward low-priority political operations.

This is occurring against a backdrop of budget cuts and staffing reductions at the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).7 These are the very agencies responsible for defending against such attacks, yet they have been left with fewer resources and diminished capacity. Rather than reinforcing these institutions, the Administration has repeatedly redirected their personnel to operations that offer political optics but deliver little in the way of genuine security gains.

To protect the American people and the integrity of our justice system, we respectfully urge you to:

Address the Judiciary breach, and the broader pattern of hostile cyber activity, directly with Dictator Vladimir Putin during your upcoming meeting. You must make it clear that continued attacks will result in serious diplomatic and economic consequences.
Fully restore and expand staffing and operational funding for DOJ, FBI, and CISA to meet the scale of today’s cyber and counterintelligence threats.
Direct a coordinated, whole-of-government initiative to close known vulnerabilities in the judiciary’s CM/ECF system and other high-risk federal networks.

The safety of our citizens, the resilience of our critical systems, and the credibility of our national security posture depend on confronting real threats with urgency and resolve, rather than diverting attention to operations that serve political ends while leaving our defenses exposed. We can and we must do better to face the pressing national security threats we face from cyberattacks. We urge you to please act on these matters with haste and resolve.

Sincerely,

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