Speaking on the threats posed by cyber attacks, Hillary Clinton’s top adviser for foreign policy said that a technical understanding of cyber security would be needed by the next president to deal with the "top item" issue, therefore disqualifying Clinton for the job.
Jake Sullivan, who was a part of Clinton’s State Department staff and now works as a foreign policy adviser for her campaign, said last week that setting the global rules with respect to cyber security would be a "top item" on the next president’s "to-do list."
Sullivan added that the president will need to "really understand" cyber security, which he described as a "growing threat" on a technical level that has never been needed for decision makers in the past.
"I think that the next president, one of the top items on her to-do list is going to have to be to think about how we build a serious global dialogue and get all the major actors together to say, ‘These are the basic rules of the road with respect to cyber,’" Sullivan said in remarks at Sandhills Community College. "We did it with nuclear in the 50s and 60s and 70s and avoided nuclear catastrophe. We have to try to do it with cyber."
"To really understand cyber, and what the threat is and what the nature of the response should be, you have to have a level of technical know-how that very few foreign policy makers and national security decision makers really have," Sullivan said.
"Technical know-how" is a quality that Clinton does not possess.
Speaking about her private email server, Clinton said she does not "know how it works digitally," and that she has "no idea" whether it was wiped. She was also unable to understand the common technical term of "wiping a server," asking whether that meant that she physically wiped the server with a cloth.
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote that the exchange was "evidence of a lack of technological know-how."
It was also revealed in Clinton’s State Department emails that she could not figure out how to use a fax machine, and needed multiple aides to teach her how to use an iPad.
She even ordered a technology self-help book titled Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better.
Clinton’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether she possesses the "technical know-how" to properly address cyber security.