China, Iran, North Korea, Russia have been trying to steal the coronavirus vaccine says Former Cybersecurity Chief Chris Krebs in an interview with CBS News on their "Face The Nation" program last Sunday, December 6.
This new set of allegations against China, now together with three other countries, surprisingly came out three days after Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe revealed information on China's economic espionage and manipulation of US legislators.
Krebs, who was actually being interviewed for his role during the 2020 elections, revealed that the four countries were identified to be after the vaccine and other information regarding the United States during this pandemic.
"So the traditional powers, the big four of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, we have seen to some extent all four of those countries doing some kind of espionage or spying, trying to get intellectual property related to the vaccine and, in fact, just how we are doing as a country policy wise and in terms of health impact," Krebs said.
"What we have been thinking through at CISA was not just the vaccine developers, but their entire supply chain and really trying to look through those for those critical weak spots. We called it the ball bearing strategy, looking for those key elements that could cause the entire process to collapse," he added.
In his interview, Krebs also stressed that it's "going to be critical going forward" because the four countries are not just after information from one vaccine developer but from all of it and all those involved in their development process.
"It's their supply chains. It's the distribution channels, public health institutions. Those are the folks that we have to continue to spread cyber security support to from the national security community and from the private sector," he stressed to CBS News' Margaret Brennan who was conducting the interview.
Brennan initially asked Krebs regarding his take on the allegations brought up by President Donald Trump and his team that a massive fraud took place during the elections. Krebs said that, as far as he is concerned, "the result of the 2020 election is clear" since "the race is over".
CNBC reported Krebs was responsible for leading the effort to protect U.S. elections out of his role as Cybersecurity Chief. However, he was recently removed by Trump from the said post due to his "highly inaccurate" statements on the 2020 elections' security.
Prior to the CBS News interview, Krebs was reported by CNN to have told Trump to concede to his loss by stopping the attacks against American democracy, which he does through the widespread election fraud he is said to be purporting.
Krebs told Jake Tapper in an interview held Friday, December 4, that it is time for Trump to defend democracy.
"There are things more important than a four-year term. This American experiment, and democracy in general, is fragile. You've got to care for it. You've got to nurture it. And these constant attacks and undermining confidence are very dangerous," Krebs said.
Despite Krebs' assertion on the US election's integrity, however, many Americans believe voter fraud did happen on a wide scale, and are supportive of the President's push for recounts and investigations.
