Federal government fails to protect itself against hackers

In another dismal report on failings in government, a new report indicates that federal bureaucracies are unable or unwilling to be competent. The Washington Post writes:

A blistering Senate report in 2019 found dangerous cybersecurity lapses at eight government agencies, including unpatched computer bugs and citizens’ personal information left vulnerable to hacking.

Two years later, things are barely any better.

A 2021 update released this morning by the Senate Homeland Security Committee found seven of the eight agencies had made only minimal improvements during the past two years. Only the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the government’s lead cybersecurity agency, is doing substantially better.

They paint a picture of a government that, despite years of warning shots, is ill-prepared to withstand hacks from Russia, China and elsewhere.

“It is clear that the data entrusted to these eight key agencies remains at risk,” the report states. “As hackers, both state-sponsored and otherwise, become increasingly sophisticated and persistent, Congress and the executive branch cannot continue to allow [personally identifiable information] and national security secrets to remain vulnerable.”

• During a hacking exercise, investigators were able to access hundreds of documents containing people’s personal information from the Department of Education, including 200 credit card numbers. The department’s IT staff didn’t block them or even notice.
• The Transportation Department inspector general found nearly 15,000 IT devices, including more than 7,000 phones, that were being used by employees and contractors for which the department had no record.

That speaks for itself.

Questions: 

1. Who or what is mostly responsible for the federal failure to protect against hackers, e.g., failed congressional oversight (too gridlocked and busy doing partisan bickering and crackpot propagandizing?), failure of federal agency leadership to follow advice, failed presidential leadership (too busy propagandizing and attacking opponents and government?), decades of vicious Republican Party attacks on the federal government and competence itself, voters electing incompetent federal politicians, the Christian God's righteous punishment of America for being too secular and accepting of the LGBQT community and racial minorities, lead in the drinking water, increased consumption of organic food by federal employees[1], etc.?

2. Who or what comes in 2nd?

Footnote: 

1. 

Wot??