Vice President Biden Gives West Point Commencement Speech

Vice President Joe Biden warned the U.S. Military Academy’s class of 2016 on Saturday that it’s facing a vast range of complex challenges, including battling Islamic State extremists, containing outbreaks of contagious diseases and defending against cyberattacks.

“Whenever the stakes are highest, we turn to the United States Army,” he said. “Whether it’s fighting terrorism, training our partners, reassuring our allies or providing humanitarian relief, we call on you,” he said. “And right now, the stakes could not be higher.”

Biden singled out cyberattacks as a growing threat that could allow American enemies to knock out the nation’s power grid or disable satellite systems.

“The bad thing about advanced technology is that it gives immense powers to stateless actors,” Biden said.

He added: “You’ll need to dominate the cyber realm as you do the physical one.”

Biden also was West Point’s commencement speaker in 2012.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the May 23rd, 2016 edition of Hamodia.