US intelligence chief says Russian cyber attacks during elections unlike anything seen before
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Thursday that Russia had a “long history” of interfering in elections, but that US officials had never encountered activity like its efforts during the 2016 US presidential campaign.
“The Russians have a long history of interfering in elections. Theirs and other people’s .... This goes back to the ’60s, from the heyday of the Cold War,” Clapper testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
However, he added, “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we’ve seen in this case.”
Clapper, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Marcel Lettre told the panel, chaired by John McCain – a Republican and a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin – that Russian cyber attacks posed a “major threat” to the US despite skepticism from President-elect Donald Trump about findings that Moscow orchestrated hackings of the 2016 election.
Although Trump called himself a “big fan” of the intelligence community on Thursday, he is heading for a conflict over the issue with Democrats and some fellow Republicans in Congress. Many lawmakers are wary of Moscow and distrust Trump’s praise of Putin and efforts to heal the rift between the US and Russia.
Trump, who becomes president on January 20, will be briefed by intelligence agency chiefs on Friday about hacks that targeted the Democratic Party during the presidential election campaign he won.
The intelligence officials described Moscow as a major threat to a wide range of US interests because of its “highly-advanced offensive cyber program” and sophisticated capabilities.
“Russia is a full-scope cyber actor that poses a major threat to US government, military, diplomatic, commercial and critical infrastructure,” they said in a joint statement.
Obama last week ordered the expulsion of 35 Russians suspected of being spies, and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over their alleged involvement in hacking US political groups in the 2016 election.
US intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organizations and operatives before the election, a conclusion supported by several private cybersecurity firms. Moscow denies the allegations. American intelligence officials have said the cyber attacks were aimed at helping Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election.
Several Republicans have acknowledged the Russian hacking but have not linked it to an effort to help Trump win.
Documents stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta were leaked to the media in advance of the election, embarrassing the Clinton campaign.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump cast doubt on a Russian role in the affair, writing: “[WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange said ‘a 14-year-old could have hacked Podesta’ – why was DNC so careless? Also said the Russians did not give him the info!”
However, on Thursday, Trump said in another tweet that he was not against intelligence agencies or in agreement with Assange, whose organization leaked Democrat emails.
“The media lies to make it look like I am against ‘Intelligence’ when in fact I am a big fan!” Trump wrote.
Trump and top advisers believe Democrats are trying to delegitimize his election victory by accusing Russia of helping him.
An unclassified version of the intelligence community’s review of Russian interference in the election will be made public early next week and will assign a motive for the attacks, Clapper said. The report was delivered to President Barack Obama on Thursday, he added.
In the afternoon, State Department and Department of Homeland Security officials were to brief the Senate Foreign Relations Committee behind closed doors on the Obama administration’s response to the hacking and harassment of US diplomats.
Some lawmakers, including McCain, said a firmer response was needed to check Russian aggression in cyberspace and elsewhere, and to discourage other countries from trying to influence more US elections.
Clapper declined to say whether cyber attacks of the nature carried out during the election constituted an act of war. That determination would be a “very heavy policy call,” said Clapper, the country’s top intelligence official.