In a move that shocked analysts and security experts across Washington, the Trump White House has officially removed Russia from the list of cybersecurity threats to the United States. That’s a list that Russia has been the primary focus of since the term “cybersecurity” was coined.

At this point, anyone denying that Trump is actively working to benefit Vladimir Putin needs to have their head examined. That list should probably start with Trump’s staunchest defenders in the GOP establishment.

Taking Russia’s place atop the list of threats is now China.

The move is being billed as part of Trump’s effort to broker a peace deal that would end the war in Ukraine. But experts around the globe all agree: The only “deal” that Putin will accept is Ukraine’s surrender. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is unlikely to avail himself of that option any time soon.

The Guardian had an extensive report on a speech given by Liesyl Franz, deputy assistant secretary for international cybersecurity under Trump, before the United Nations last week, in which Franz listed only China and Iran as threats, omitting Russia.

From the report:

A recent memo at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) set out new priorities for the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and monitors cyber threats against US critical infrastructure. The new directive set out priorities that included China and protecting local systems. It did not mention Russia.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity said analysts at the agency were verbally informed that they were not to follow or report on Russian threats, even though this had previously been a main focus for the agency.

The person said work that was being done on something “Russia-related” was in effect “nixed”.

“Russia and China are our biggest adversaries. With all the cuts being made to different agencies, a lot of cyber security personnel have been fired. Our systems are not going to be protected and our adversaries know this,” the person said.

The person added: “People are saying Russia is winning. Putin is on the inside now.”

Thanks for the insight, news agency entirely outside the United States. Sure would be nice if we could see an ABC report on this, maybe. In fact, at the UN meeting mentioned above, the UK pointed out that Russia is literally using their cybersecurity counterintelligence apparatus for a disinformation campaign in the very war in Ukraine that Trump says he wants to help end.

This may all seem on the surface like standard politician doublespeak, but this move actively works against the interests of the United States and for the interests of Vladimir Putin.

I’m not sure how to make that statement clearer, but I’ll try: Donald Trump just did something that is BAD for America and GOOD for Putin, and he did it on purpose, with full knowledge of the effects beforehand.

One of the biggest brains ever to emerge from the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, James Lewis, put it pretty plainly. “It’s incomprehensible to give a speech about threats in cyberspace and not mention Russia and it’s delusional to think this will turn Russia and the FSB [Russian security agency] into our friends. They hate the US and are still mad about losing the cold war. Pretending otherwise won’t change this.”

Another former expert from a joint US task force on cyber security tasked with countering Russia told the Guardian, “There are thousands of US government employees and military working daily on the massive threat Russia poses as possibly the most significant nation state threat actor. Not to diminish the significance of China, Iran or North Korea, but Russia is at least on par with China as the most significant cyber threat.”

Why such a threat?

“There are dozens of discrete Russia state-sponsored hacker teams dedicated to either producing damage to US government, infrastructure and commercial interests or conducting information theft with a key goal of maintaining persistent access to computer systems.”

And if you think this shift in policy position hasn’t already taken hold, consider the fact that Trump’s new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, before Friday’s disastrous attempt at a mineral rights deal with Ukraine’s president, ordered US Cyber Command to stop “offensive operations” against Russia.

Not only are security agencies now forbidden from following or reporting on Russian threats, but we have completely decelerated our offensive strategies to a halt.

It sounds like Donald Trump works for someone besides American citizens.