What can look like innocent attention toward a child can mask something far more sinister, a Kentucky advocate warns as the state’s new grooming law lands its first arrest just weeks after taking effect.

Laura Wills-Coppelman, founder of ICKY, or Institutional Complicity Kentucky, told Fox News Digital that she sees the arrest as evidence of what the new grooming offense was designed to provide — an earlier opportunity for authorities to potentially intervene before alleged conduct escalates into sexual abuse.

"For the first time, Kentucky has a legal ability to intervene in a situation where a child could potentially face irreversible harm," Wills-Coppelman said. "It's a massive step forward in an effort to prevent child abuse."

KENTUCKY MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER ACCUSED OF CROSSING THE LINE WITH STUDENT, ARRESTED UNDER NEW ANTI-GROOMING LAW

The new law was invoked just weeks after taking effect July 15, when 25-year-old Sadie M. Flores of Mayfield was arrested and charged with grooming a minor, a Class D felony.

The Graves County Sheriff's Office said Flores, an employee at Graves County Middle School, allegedly had an improper relationship with a minor student in the district.

The allegation was initially reported to Graves County Schools, which immediately turned the information over to the sheriff's office, according to authorities.

Detectives seized electronic records, conducted interviews and took other investigative steps before interviewing Flores and arresting her around 3:30 p.m., the sheriff's office said.

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Wills-Coppelman cautioned against drawing conclusions about Flores, saying the evidence and allegations in the case must now be evaluated through the court system.

But she said the arrest illustrates the significance of creating an earlier point at which authorities can investigate conduct that may precede abuse.

Wills-Coppelman said one of the biggest misconceptions about grooming is the belief that one questionable interaction can be viewed in isolation and labeled grooming.

Instead, she said grooming often unfolds gradually, with behaviors that may seem explainable on their own becoming increasingly concerning when they form a pattern.

"Grooming is a pattern of behavior that is intended to build trust, erode boundaries, and create conditions for a child to be exploited or abused," she said.

Potential warning signs, she said, can include excessive attention or favoritism, gifts, secrecy and increasingly isolating a child from other trusted adults or peers.

Individually, some of those behaviors may have innocent explanations. The alarm, Wills-Coppelman said, comes when adults begin seeing them develop into a broader pattern over time.

And from the child's perspective, she warned, grooming may not feel threatening at all.

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"Grooming is a form of manipulation," Wills-Coppelman said, explaining that a child may instead feel "special and seen and validated" by the attention.

"It doesn't often register as dangerous until it's too late," she said.

For parents watching from the outside, however, the same relationship may begin setting off alarm bells.

"Why does this adult need so much access? Why are they being isolated so much? Why so much excessive attention?" Wills-Coppelman said parents should ask themselves.

Wills-Coppelman said survivors her organization has spoken with have repeatedly described another troubling pattern — adults who recognized something felt wrong but did not speak up at the time.

"A lot of people, bystanders, in their situations in retrospect look back and say, 'I had an icky feeling,'" she said. "I saw something or I heard something that made me feel uncomfortable. I wish I would have spoken up."

She stressed that reporting concerning conduct is not the same as declaring someone guilty.

Instead, she said, authorities are responsible for examining the evidence and determining whether conduct meets the threshold for criminal charges.

"The point of awareness can be the point of prevention," Wills-Coppelman said.

That distinction has become particularly important amid concerns that ordinary interactions between teachers, coaches, youth leaders and children could be mistaken for grooming. The law makes clear that legitimate school, work and volunteer-related communications are not what it is designed to criminalize.

Wills-Coppelman rejected that characterization, calling appropriate adult-child boundaries "common sense."

"Healthy adult-child mentorship respects appropriate boundaries. Grooming erodes them," she said.

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"The intent of the law is to create an earlier intervention point, not to criminalize ordinary relationships between adults and children."

Wills-Coppelman said the legislation received unanimous support in both chambers of the Kentucky legislature and bipartisan backing.

House Bill 4, primarily sponsored by Republican state Rep. Marianne Proctor, passed the House 98-0 and the Senate 38-0 before the House unanimously approved the Senate's changes. Gov. Andy Beshear signed it into law April 10.

"This is not a political issue. This is a human issue," she said.

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The pushback she has encountered, she said, has instead largely centered on due process and concerns about what happens after someone reports suspected grooming.

Wills-Coppelman said due process remains an essential part of the law because a report alone does not automatically trigger criminal charges. Investigators must evaluate the evidence before determining whether charges are warranted.

"We can preserve and respect due process and also prioritize the prevention of abuse and the protection of our children," she said. "They are not competing principles."

Wills-Coppelman said she ultimately hopes the law results not in more arrests, but fewer children ever reaching the point where alleged abuse occurs.

"The ultimate goal of this law is not more prosecutions," she said. "It's earlier recognition, awareness and understanding of what these behaviors look like and ultimately prevention."

For Wills-Coppelman, passing the grooming law is only one piece of a larger fight.

She said she now wants Kentucky's educator code of ethics brought into alignment with the new law and is pushing for greater accountability when people in positions of authority become aware of disturbing patterns but fail to report them.

That includes situations in which institutions attempt to handle serious allegations internally rather than referring them to the appropriate authorities, she said.

"My efforts are focused not only on the obvious villain, which is the perpetrator in these cases, but also turning some attention toward enablers, systems and institutions and the people within those organizations that had the capacity and the ability to take action and made a deliberate choice to not do so," Wills-Coppelman said.

In the Flores case, Graves County Schools said administrators contacted law enforcement immediately after becoming aware of the allegation.

Superintendent Matt Madding said the district has since been informed that charges were filed against the teacher and pledged continued cooperation with investigators.

"We take any allegation involving the safety of a child or the professional conduct of an employee extremely seriously," Madding said in a statement.

The district said it is limited in what it can disclose because the case remains an ongoing legal and personnel matter.

Wills-Coppelman hopes Kentucky's approach eventually reaches far beyond the state.

She said Ohio has legislation similar to Kentucky's, but her goal is for protections against grooming to ultimately become a nationwide standard.

"A child's protection from grooming and abuse should never depend on geography," she said.

For now, Kentucky's first case under the new law will move through the courts, while the legislation itself faces its first real-world test.

And for Wills-Coppelman, its success won't ultimately be measured by the number of people put behind bars.

"If it prevents even one child from the horrific consequences of abuse," she said, "that makes it all worth it."

In 2021, after nearly two decades, the United States abruptly withdrew military forces from Afghanistan, causing the nation to fall back under Taliban control. Almost five years later, it’s hard to forget the images of crowds of people clinging on to planes in a desperate attempt to escape what lay ahead for their country. In the aftermath, many conservative evangelicals and veterans’ advocates stood up for Afghans fleeing persecution and violence. But the job remains unfinished. Now is the time to renew our efforts and push for a lasting solution for our Afghan neighbors.

As the Taliban retook Kabul, those allies were suddenly in grave danger. Their ranks included many translators, drivers and others who became targets because they worked with the United States. Many turned to the U.S. for such a chance at safety, and in 2021, a multi-agency, public-private effort mobilized to rally around our allies.

Both our organizations support Afghan evacuees in different ways. World Relief, in coordination with hundreds of local churches, has spent years resettling Afghan families in American communities, and AfghanEvac has fought to bring home the mission partners who served alongside our troops and enabled the U.S. mission. Since the beginning of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, promises have been made to provide a pathway to legal residency in America for Afghan allies who assisted the U.S. government.

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Many evangelical Christians in the U.S. recognized the moral crisis at stake and were eager to help welcome and support people fleeing persecution in Afghanistan. Evangelical leader Franklin Graham led  an initiative to organize support for Afghans. Here at World Relief, we were flooded by calls from churches wanting to help, and our offices were soon full of donations. At the time, polls found a majority of evangelicals supported taking in Afghan refugees. Due to unprecedented levels of support, many Afghan families were soon resettled in American communities. 

Ideally, Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government would have arrived with approved Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) or through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, either of which would have ensured new arrivals that they had a permanent place in the United States. But due to the urgent nature of the evacuation, most of the roughly 70,000 Afghans  brought to the U.S. by the federal government in the months immediately after the fall of Kabul were admitted on humanitarian parole, which allowed them to be lawfully present and authorized to work, but only temporarily. This was conducted through Operation Allies Welcome, an initiative made possible through grassroots veteran involvement. Some of these individuals were subsequently granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a distinct but still, obviously, temporary legal protection.  

When the conditions in Afghanistan did not improve over time, it was clear a more lasting resolution was needed. The Afghan Adjustment Act was originally introduced in 2022 and 2023 to create a pathway to a green card and citizenship for Afghans with little hope of returning home. As its name suggests, the bill would establish an adjustment process for tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees to gain permanent legal status. The act has bipartisan endorsements and the support of many evangelical Christian organizations . However, despite the diverse coalition behind urging Congress and President Biden to act, the bill failed to become law, leaving many stuck in limbo. 

Since the beginning of the second Trump presidency, their situation has not improved. Little has been done to help Afghans already present on temporary status, and pathways for those still stuck in Afghanistan or in refugee camps in neighboring countries have been shut down. No Afghan principal applicants have been issued SIVs in 2026, and for those SIV applicants still waiting to be processed, the average wait time is over 1,000 days, leaving them hanging in suspense. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has been effectively closed for all but a favored minority. In July of 2025, Temporary Protected Status was terminated for nearly 12,000 Afghans — despite pushback from evangelicals — forcing them into an impossible situation. By ending or suspending these programs, the administration has not just abandoned Afghans but has closed the door to anyone facing persecution abroad. 

Despite many attempts since the early waves of Afghan arrivals, a legislative fix still has not been passed. A new bill has recently been proposed  in both the House and the Senate — the Afghanistan TPS Act of 2026 — that would re-secure TPS for Afghans, protecting them from removal and buying more time to find a permanent fix. This act is needed to address the urgent crisis facing Afghan evacuees.

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The response in 2021 by churches, veterans’ groups and many other Americans, was overwhelmingly positive and extended welcome to Afghans. However, as we reflect on the five-year anniversary of the evacuation, the work of helping them integrate and make a home in the United States is incomplete. Now is the time for us to secure their welcome permanently. For the faith communities that have carried so much of this work, Scripture is direct about welcoming the stranger and loving your neighbor. For veterans, and for a country that gave its word, the obligation is just as plain. America told these men and women that if they stood with us, we would stand with them. Both roads lead to the same place.

Will we support and protect our Afghan neighbors through our hospitality or abandon them out and succumb to fear and apathy? Furthermore, to not fulfill our agreements with our Afghan allies would be to violate our promises as Americans. That is not abstract. By showing ourselves untrustworthy, we risk losing potential allies’ cooperation in future conflicts, putting the lives of our service members in danger.

Since Kabul’s fall, the need has been unambiguous, and through the beginning of 2025, the political will was strong. But as a nation, we have faltered. We must once again stand up for our allies and urge our officials to take action passing the Afghanistan TPS Act, the Enduring Welcome Act, and reopening the resettlement program to all eligible mission partners. Not just because it’s good for our service members in future conflicts, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Shawn VanDiver is the founder and president of #AfghanEvac. 

On June 17, President Trump signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran. The agreement was intended to end hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and establish a framework for Iran's economic recovery, reconstruction, and future investment.

The memorandum calls for developing a reconstruction and economic development plan of at least $300 billion for Iran, contingent on a final agreement. President Trump has said the United States will not directly finance the reconstruction, but his administration has committed to working with regional partners to develop the plan.

The Pentagon has spent billions on this war. Now the administration is laying the groundwork for a plan to mobilize at least $300 billion for Iran's reconstruction. Meanwhile, many families here at home still struggle to afford rent, groceries, or a doctor's visit.

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If Washington can negotiate a 14-point agreement that includes a plan to rebuild Iran after a war President Trump chose to wage, we can write a 14-point plan to rebuild every American community.

Today, I am releasing my own 14-point plan, a plan for Team America. It puts the full strength of the United States government to work for the American people: creating jobs, slashing costs and stopping foreign wars.

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We need a new national mission. Our governing elite have been so focused on foreign wars that they have lost sight of our challenges here at home. It is time for a national economic development initiative that makes the economic success of every American family our highest priority.

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America has done it before. We did it when FDR mobilized America’s industrial power, when Eisenhower built the interstate highway system and when Kennedy called on us to go to the moon. That spirit is what inspired my parents to come here in the late 1960s and early 1970s. We were a nation on the march — a nation brimming with confidence and humming with activity.

Let us be that America. Let us be an America that makes prosperity possible in every corner of our nation and, in so doing, becomes history's first cohesive multiracial democracy.

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A former New Jersey mayor who previously pleaded guilty in a DUI case involving her child is facing new charges alongside her husband after prosecutors alleged false signatures appeared on her nominating petition for a Democratic primary race.

Gina LaPlaca, the former mayor of Lumberton Township who remains a member of the township committee, was charged with making a false statement under oath, knowingly filing a false petition, tampering with public records and falsifying or tampering with records, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office announced Tuesday.

LaPlaca's husband, Jason Carty, was also charged with knowingly filing a false petition, tampering with public records and falsifying or tampering with records.

The petition submitted by Carty to the Lumberton Township Municipal Clerk for the primary election included an affidavit signed by LaPlaca saying she "personally circulated the petition [and] that such petition was signed by each of the signers thereof in his/her own handwriting."

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An investigation found that LaPlaca, 47, and Carty, 49, had collected signatures for the petition, prosecutors said. 

"An investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that multiple individuals whose names and purported signatures appeared on LaPlaca's nominating petition indicated they had neither signed the petition nor authorized anyone to do so on their behalf in support of the candidate's nomination," the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said.

Prosecutors said that without the allegedly fraudulent signatures, LaPlaca's petition would not have contained enough valid signatures to qualify her as a candidate for the June 2026 Democratic primary for Lumberton Township Committee.

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LaPlaca and Carty have a court appearance scheduled on Sept. 21 in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

LaPlaca served as Lumberton's mayor from 2021 to 2025. Although she left the mayor's post, she retained her seat on the township committee, with her current term set to expire at the end of this year.

She sought re-election to the committee in the June Democratic primary but finished third in the contest for two open seats, behind Mayor Terrance Benson and his running mate, Kendra Hatfield.

The new allegations come after LaPlaca pleaded guilty earlier this year in a DUI case stemming from an incident in which her child was in the vehicle.

Prosecutors said LaPlaca was intoxicated when she picked up her child from daycare in March 2025. Witness video showed her vehicle swerving out of its lane and nearly striking a utility pole while the child was inside.

Police said her blood alcohol concentration was 0.30%, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08%.

LaPlaca was sentenced to three years of supervision under a pretrial intervention program, including mandatory attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

David Axelrod, one of the architects behind President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, believes other progressives might stand a better chance of getting elected if, in his view, one of their more unserious candidates loses an upcoming primary.

"It would be good for Abdul El-Sayed if Francesca Hong loses her bid to become the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin next week," Axelrod wrote in a post to X.

"He is a serious person. She is a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica. But the [Republicans] … would surely try to link Abdul and Hong as philosophical kin."

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Axelrod’s comments seem to indicate that despite their recent success in the 2026 midterms, not all progressives are viewed equally across the party — that some of them are seen as political liabilities even among themselves.

"This tweet is a perfect example of why the consultant class keeps losing elections. They're totally clueless, and they're hellbent on keeping working-class people out of politics," Hong wrote about Axelrod's X post. "I've spent more time in kitchens than faculty lounges. Perhaps you'd like to come to Wisconsin and work a Friday night dinner rush with me?"

Hong, a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly who is running to become the next governor of Wisconsin, has advocated for a wide slew of policies that put her solidly in the progressive camp.

She has called for universal childcare, supports a $20 minimum wage, advocated for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), believes even noncitizens should have access to state-issued ID, has called for publicly run grocery stores and opposes continued U.S. support for Israel.

Hong is also a self-proclaimed socialist with the backing of the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA).

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Apart from policy proposals, Hong has also attracted attention for cultural and social issues that have pushed the rhetorical envelope.

She has recently come under scrutiny for past calls for Americans to cancel Thanksgiving because of the spread of smallpox during the colonial era, defund the police because of their reinforcement of White supremacy and even calls to abolish the Senate after the chamber voted to acquit Trump during a failed impeachment effort in 2021.

Although she has tried to push back on some of those resurfaced comments, Hong has also made little effort to paint herself as a moderate.

"I’m a proud democratic socialist. I’m not advancing a brand. I’m focusing on the policies, the socialist policies that improve lives," Hong told NOTUS last week.

Hong’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Axelrod’s post or on whether she believes Republicans will try to discredit other progressives through her positions.

At the outset of the race, Hong was considered a dark horse candidate.

But the race was shaken up last month when Mandela Barnes, the state’s former lieutenant governor, dropped out of the race. Barnes was considered a frontrunner in the race because of his proximity to outgoing Gov. Tony Evers and his name recognition.

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With his departure, Hong, who had already gained sizable momentum, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley were left as the two main contenders.

Evers has endorsed Crowley, citing his tenure as a public servant.

Hong now faces a primary election next Tuesday, Aug. 11., after which, if she wins, she will go on to the state’s general election on Nov. 3.

Nearly 30 years after rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, the only person ever charged in his killing is set to go on trial.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is scheduled to stand trial beginning Monday on a murder charge in the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, one of hip-hop’s most influential artists.

Davis has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors do not accuse him of firing the shot, but allege he helped plan the attack and provided the gun used in the shooting.

Shakur was shot Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight near the Las Vegas Strip. He died six days later at age 25.

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Hours before the shooting, Shakur, Knight and others were involved in a fight at the MGM Grand with Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips.

Prosecutors say Davis, Anderson, Deandrae "Freaky" Smith and Terry "Bubble Up" Brown were later riding in a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur’s car and opened fire.

Davis is the only one of the four still alive.

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Authorities long suspected Anderson was the gunman, although evidence presented in the case has also raised the possibility that Smith fired the shots.

No murder weapon was recovered.

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According to The Associated Press, prosecutors hope to prove that Davis called the shots in and provided the gun used in the crime. Gunfire came from the Cadillac that Davis was in, and he is one of the only people there that night who is still alive.

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Davis has acknowledged being in the Cadillac and discussed the killing in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend." Prosecutors say those statements help establish his role in the attack.

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His attorneys, meanwhile, have argued that some of Davis’ public statements were exaggerated and have challenged whether statements he made during a 2008 police interview could be used against him.

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A Nevada judge ruled that Davis' police interview, as well as portions of his memoir, will be allowed during the trial.

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The trial is expected to last about four weeks. In November, Davis' attorneys unsuccessfully sought to dismiss the charges.

"Think of it this way: Shakur’s murder was essentially the entertainment world’s JFK assassination — endlessly dissected, mythologized, monetized — so it’s not hard to see why someone in Davis’s position might falsely place himself at the center of it all for personal gain," his attorneys said in a petition to the Nevada Supreme Court that was denied.

Shakur's legendary rap career was highlighted by more than 75 million records worldwide with hits including "California Love," "Changes" and "Dear Mama."

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.

Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

As tensions continue to rise between the United States and Iran, Iranian-affiliated hackers have reportedly reached into the heartland of America and targeted the systems that control a basic necessity of life: water.

More than 30 community water systems in Minnesota were targeted in a coordinated cyberattack in late July, with similar activity being identified in a handful of other states.

This should concern every American. But the most alarming part isn’t simply who may have been behind the attack. Instead, it’s how little sophistication may have been needed to pull it off in the first place.

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Early indications suggest this was not some unstoppable cyberweapon that no municipality could have anticipated. Instead, the attackers appear to have targeted operational technology that is connected to the internet and exploited the kinds of fundamental security weaknesses experts have been warning about for years.

And while Iranian-affiliated hackers may have carried out this particular attack – certainly representing an escalation in the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict – the attack on Minnesota did not expose a vulnerability unknown to our nation’s leaders.

Instead, it’s further underscored the real-world consequences of weaknesses the federal government has been documenting for years.

For instance, in 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General examined 1,062 drinking-water systems serving more than 193 million citizens. It found critical or high-risk cybersecurity vulnerabilities at 97 systems serving approximately 26.6 million Americans. Another 211 systems serving more than 82.7 million people had portals that were visible from outside their networks.

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Put plainly, systems serving tens of millions of Americans could be discovered from the public internet. Exploiting these access points, as the inspector general warned, presented an opportunity for hackers to disrupt services and lead to potential physical damage to water infrastructure.

That is what raises the stakes far beyond the data breach Americans have become all too accustomed to reading about.

Of course, these breaches, whether involving a retailer or a credit bureau, can expose personal information and certainly inflict serious harm. That risk should not be minimized.

An attack on a water system, however, crosses a far more dangerous threshold – from compromising data to disrupting an essential service on which human life depends. Pumps can stop operating. Water supplies can be interrupted. An entire community’s health and safety can be placed at risk.

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The scope of this challenge extends far beyond Minnesota. According to the Government Accountability Office, nearly 170,000 water and wastewater systems make up America’s water sector. Many rely on aging equipment, face workforce shortages, and operate with little capacity for dedicated cybersecurity personnel.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is further complicating matters.

This technology has helped malicious actors identify vulnerable systems, create convincing phishing messages and modify malicious software faster than ever before. There is no public evidence that AI played a role in Minnesota, but it is making cyberattacks cheaper, faster and easier to execute at scale – and it’s a threat we must not ignore.

The fortunate reality, however, is that regardless of how powerful AI might be, AI does not remain the underlying weakness. It simply enables attackers to exploit said weaknesses more efficiently.

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So where do we go from here?

The answer isn’t found in futuristic solutions while continuing to ignore the fundamentals. Instead, protecting critical infrastructure – such as water plants – must begin with five essential actions.

First, utilities must know what is connected to their networks. Every water system needs an accurate inventory of its equipment, software origins, remote-access points and third-party vendors. An organization cannot protect technology it does not know it has.

Second, every point of access must be secured. Default passwords must be eliminated, multi-factor authentication should be required and critical controls should never be exposed directly to the internet.

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Third, operational equipment must be separated from routine business systems. A computer used for email, internet browsing or administrative work must not provide a pathway to the pumps and other machinery necessary to control a community’s water supply.

Fourth, software must be updated routinely and promptly. Attackers often search for known vulnerabilities whose fixes have been available for months or even years. A security update that exists but was never installed offers no protection.

Lastly, critical infrastructure must control what software is permitted to run by deploying application allowlisting, also known as whitelisting, across its systems.

Most traditional cybersecurity tools are designed to identify and block programs believed to be malicious. But AI now allows attackers to create and modify malware at an extraordinary speed, producing new variations that may not resemble previously identified threats. This makes a traditional, detection-only strategy increasingly difficult to sustain.

Application allowlisting, however, reverses this model. Instead of trying to identify every possible threat, it permits only previously approved software to operate. Everything else is prevented from running by default until a system administrator can review for safety. This prevents unknown, potentially malicious software from executing inside systems Americans rely on for necessities such as water and electricity.

Taken together, these five measures would make America’s water systems – and all critical infrastructure – substantially harder to compromise. They would also move these systems away from reacting to attacks after the damage begins and toward preventing the damage in the first place.

The latest attacks in Minnesota must mark a turning point in how our nation protects its critical infrastructure. Meeting this moment will require more than acknowledging the risk; it will require action, accountability, and urgency.

Every utility operator, municipal leader and government agency responsible for these systems should immediately assess whether these five standards are being met, assign clear responsibility for correcting every deficiency and establish firm deadlines for shoring up any vulnerabilities. And where local communities lack the necessary expertise or resources, state and federal partners must help close the gap.

The danger presented by cyberattacks is no longer distant, nor is it theoretical.

America’s adversaries are actively searching for known vulnerabilities. And any action, or inaction, which allows those weaknesses to remain unresolved is a choice that only invites a more serious attack – one with potentially deadly consequences.

America was fortunate – this time. Minnesota’s water system continued serving residents despite the attack.

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But that outcome should create urgency, not complacency.

Good fortune cannot be America’s cybersecurity strategy, and leaders must take action today by closing the known security gaps before the next cyberattack puts American lives in danger.

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