My oldest son is a West Point graduate training to fly Black Hawks. My youngest brother spent his career as a Green Beret Weapons Sergeant. Between the two of them, I have spent a couple of decades getting used to the idea that this country's security sometimes depends on people the government trusts enough to arm and point at a problem. On August 12, President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum that applies the same logic to cyberspace, and conservatives should recognize the idea immediately, because the Founders wrote it into the Constitution 237 years ago.

The memorandum, titled "Expanding Capabilities to Combat Transnational Cyber-Enabled Crime," authorizes vetted American companies to conduct cyber surveillance and offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal organizations that prey on Americans, under the direction and control of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. The White House built the case on a number that ought to make every reader's stomach turn: the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged more than $20.8 billion in reported losses to cyber-enabled fraud in 2025, a 26 percent jump over the year before, with over a million complaints filed. Ransomware crews with names like LockBit, Akira, and BlackCat treat American hospitals, school districts, and small businesses as a subscription revenue model.

I have spent three decades in financial services, including years running private credit and hedge fund strategies, and more recently serving as a court-designated expert witness in fiduciary duty and investment cases. I have sat across from fraud victims in depositions. The........

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