Letter to the Hon. Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States - Bost Urges Biden to Hold China and Russia Accountable for Cyberattacks Against U.S. Food System

Letter

Dear President Biden:
We write to express abundant concern over the recent hacking and ransomware attack of JBS
USA, and to urge your leadership in finding a solution to prevent future attacks.
Ransomware attacks of any kind are dangerous instances of organized crime, espionage, terror,
and extortion; and if unchecked by the nation from which they originate, should be seen as
adversarial actions. Recent cyberattacks that have targeted key components of America's critical
infrastructure -- like the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, the hacking of New York
City's subway system, local government agency breaches, hospitals, and now an attack on a
critical component of the American food supply chain -- are especially egregious and are
legitimate threats to America's national security.
JBS USA is North America's largest meatpacker by volume -- processing nearly 25% of US beef,
roughly 20% of domestic pork, and is the second largest poultry producer. The company is an
exclusive supplier to countless consumer brands, supermarket chains, and food service providers
on a national scale, and contracts production with thousands of farms across the country. While
unexpected interruptions to business-as-usual at any point in the food supply chain have the
opportunity to create significant disruptions to the industry -- which operates on a tight, just-intime delivery model -- these same interruptions to a firm the size of JBS can have dramatic
consequences across the economy.
As America witnessed in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, even localized
outages of processing capabilities in this sector can erode consumer confidence, stimulate panic
buying, and create long-term distortion in commodity, retail, and service markets. Disruptions of
JBS's processing capacities altered national daily slaughter rates by upwards of 27,000 head of
cattle per day before operations resumed. This capacity reduction distorted market prices with a
sharp price decline and subsequent rally. Though relatively fortunate that distortions in this case
resolved quickly, future prolonged attacks of this nature could have a devastating impact on
domestic food stability.
As your Administration and the whole of the federal government continue the investigation and
response to this attack, we urge you to consider this attack and any future attacks on segments of
the food supply chain as the national security threats that they are. The stability of the US
domestic food system is critical, not only as a foundation of the American economy and a means
to avoid the devastations of famine, but also as a necessary tool in fully resourcing the nutritional
needs of our citizenry and military personnel, ensuring food safety and minimizing risk of
foodborne illness or infectious disease, contributing to energy security, and as a tremendously
valuable leverage in international trade negotiations. Simply put, America's food system is
critical infrastructure to our nation, and must be protected as such.
Most importantly, we call upon you and your administration to address cyberattacks on
American critical infrastructure as the acts of adversarial aggression they embody. Reconsidering
diplomatic relationships with nation-states that enable or harbor cyber criminals, shield their
actions or identities, or protect the custody of these individuals is a needed escalation to address
growing numbers of crippling cyberattacks. These nations and their leaders should be held
accountable, and the resolution of these attacks should be leveraged in diplomatic, trade, and
other negotiations. For chronic offenders such as China and Russia -- whose governments have
both been directly connected to cybercrime originating within their borders -- we urge a strong,
punitive stance in relations, and tangible action seeking accountability.
Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure are an unacceptable, serious threat to the American way of
life and democracy, and they must end immediately. We can no longer tolerate the complicity of
our adversaries in these attacks, nor the tools and resources that enable them. The American
people demand security and confidence in our nation's ability to manage acts of hostility by
outside influences. We