Over the last four years, the White House website lost a lot of credibility. From removing the Spanish translation option to erasing mentions of climate change, the Trump administration did away with a lot of helpful, engaging content found on the site. Now, the incoming administration has not only restored some of that integrity to the site, but also added a secret recruitment tool for coders to get involved with government. If it wasn’t obvious, this is the Biden administration’s admittedly clever way of recruiting coders to the US Digital Service, the tech-focused organization aimed at improving the government’s approach to technology founded in 2014 by Barack Obama. The message was followed by a link to the USDS website. This kind of focus on cybersecurity is far from a surprise for the Biden administration. In December, amidst concerns about the SolarWinds hack, Biden stated strongly that he would “not stand idly by” when it came to this kind of threat and would make an effort and an investment in protecting the US in the future. We have to admit, a secret message to coders hidden on the White House website is nothing if not the definition of “effort.” Still, if the Biden administration wants to take cybersecurity threats seriously, tricks like this better be paired with action and investment, and luckily, we’re halfway there.
