Leadership Quote by Curt Weldon

Weldon’s line is an old national-security story reissued for the internet age: when America’s hardware advantage is overwhelming, the real threat will come from the cheap, asymmetric workaround. The phrase “working very hard” does quiet rhetorical work. It smuggles in urgency without evidence, framing cyberattackers as disciplined, relentless professionals rather than opportunists or criminals. “Cyberterrorism” then collapses a messy spectrum of activity (espionage, sabotage, propaganda, crime) into a single, morally loaded bucket that naturally invites extraordinary countermeasures.

The subtext is strategic and political. Strategically, it casts cyberspace as the new battlefield where power is redistributed because the barriers to entry are low. Politically, it justifies a shift of money, authority, and public tolerance toward surveillance, classified programs, and an expanded security state. “Our enemies and our would-be enemies” widens the net further: not just adversaries but potential adversaries, a category elastic enough to include rising competitors, rogue states, and whoever the next briefing needs.

The “tank for tank, plane for plane” construction is tellingly tactile. It reassures listeners that the traditional military remains unmatched while warning that superiority breeds vulnerability: you can’t be toppled head-on, so you’ll be hacked sideways. Coming from a Cold War-era politician, it also reflects a post-9/11 moment when fear was routed through new domains. The line works because it flatters American strength while manufacturing a rationale for permanent alertness in an arena where attribution is murky and definitions are malleable.