Thread by @ericgeller

Biden is answering press questions now and just talked SolarWinds.

"The Defense Department won't even brief us on many things. ... I know of nothing that suggests it's under control."

"We need international rules of the road on cybersecurity."

"The question of the damage done remains to be determined," Biden said of SolarWinds.

The hackers "can be assured that we will respond and probably respond in kind," he said. "There are many options which I will not discuss now."

"I promise you, there will be a response."

"It may take billions of dollars to secure our cyberspace," Biden says when asked about the practical implications of running a govt whose weaknesses remain unknown. "It may take a great deal to get it done."

"It takes people who are knowledgeable and vigilant about what is happening and how it's happening," Biden said. "So I'm just going to do all that needs be done," including a damage assessment, an autopsy of how it happened, next steps, and international norms.

"It will be an overwhelming focus for my administration," Biden says of picking up the pieces after the SolarWinds crisis.

I missed Biden's prepared remarks, where he also talked about SolarWinds. Here's some of it:

"The Trump administration failed to prioritize cybersecurity. It did that from eliminating or downgrading cyber coordinators in both the White House and at the State Department..."

"...to firing the director of [CISA]. ... Enough is enough. In an age where so much of our lives are conducted online, cyberattacks must be treated as a serious threat by our leadership at the highest levels. We can't let this go unanswered."

"Over the next month," Biden said, "I intend to continue focusing on building my team so that the right people are in place on day one of my administration to take over this effort, to prioritize cybersecurity across the board."

Biden continued: "I'll consult with experts to plan for the steps that my administration will take in order to secure our systems and prove our cyber defenses and to better withstand future attacks that we know will come, and to impose cost on those who conduct them."

"Cyber threats are among the greatest threats to our global security in the 21st century," Biden said. "I believe we have to treat them with the same seriousness of purpose that we treated threats of other unconventional weapons."