Attention turns to Moscow as source of DNC hack.
FBI focuses on Russian military agencies
Months before the release of thousands of embarrassing emails rattled the Democratic Party on the eve of its convention, the FBI warned the Clinton campaign and dozens of lawmakers that they were being targeted by hackers, according to people familiar with the discussions.
There is no evidence that those efforts were successful. But the FBI’s warning came weeks before The Washington Post reported that Russian hackers had twice broken into systems at the Democratic National Committee, underscoring concerns by law enforcement that foreign adversaries might be trying to influence the presidential election.
On Monday, the FBI formally acknowledged that it is looking into the DNC hack.
The agency has been probing the matter for months and on Monday said publicly that it will “investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.” The FBI announcement followed the stunning allegation by the Clinton campaign Sunday that the Russian government was behind the release of damaging documents on the WikiLeaks website as part of a ploy to help Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, called the suggestions “absurd” and suggested Democrats were looking to shift attention away from damaging information about the party’s conduct during the primary.
On Monday, fallout from the hack also reverberated at the Kremlin, where a spokesman declined to comment on the hack except to refer reporters to comments by Trump’s son, Don Jr., calling the allegations part of a pattern of “lie after lie.”
“Mr. Trump Jr. has already strongly responded” to the Clinton campaign’s claims, the Russian spokesman said, according to the news agency Tass.
The founder of WikiLeaks and its current top editor, Julian Assange, told the Democracy Now radio show Monday that he would not discuss the source of the data.
“In relation to sourcing, I can say some things. (A), we never reveal our sources, obviously. That’s what we pride ourselves on. And we won’t in this case, either. But no one knows who our source is,” he said. Assange has said the release Friday was the first in a series.
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence experts acknowledge they are taking the claim seriously but cautioned Monday that they have reached no conclusions.
The FBI is focusing on the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU, and investigating whether it was responsible for passing the emails to WikiLeaks, according to individuals familiar with the investigation.
The GRU is one of two Russian spy agencies that apparently compromised the DNC’s computer systems, according to CrowdStrike, a cyber firm that investigated the breach this spring on behalf of the DNC.
The GRU, which broke into the DNC’s computers in late April, also stole opposition research files on Trump, according to CrowdStrike.
Another Russian spy agency, the FSB, or an affiliate, had penetrated the DNC’s computers last summer and was monitoring DNC email and chat traffic, CrowdStrike said.
The FBI is trying to determine with certainty whether Russian intelligence passed the emails to WikiLeaks.
That line of inquiry probably will involve intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency and the CIA, which might be able to pick up intercepts or gather intelligence overseas, according to intelligence experts.
A big question looming over the investigation is what, if anything, should be done if it is shown that Russian intelligence is responsible for the leak.
While some intelligence experts stressed the seriousness of a foreign power interfering with an election, Michael Hayden, a former CIA director, said he wasn’t so sure.
“What’s the complaint?” he said. “They stole my emails. The response to this is … don’t be stupid out there, people. Defend yourselves. And don’t click on the phishing emails.”
However, the email releases continued to cause anxiety among Democratic officials as the party gathered for its convention in Philadelphia.
Former White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley, attending the convention, called the Russian hack of DNC emails “pretty frightening.”
Given Russia’s sophistication in this realm, Daley said that it would be reasonable to conclude that President Vladimir Putin and his government are behind the email leak in an effort to undermine Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.
“I don’t think anybody would be surprised if Putin would try to affect the election,” Daley said in an interview Monday. “That’s like the old Casablanca — there’s gambling in the casino. It doesn’t surprise me at all. Period. I think anybody who dismisses that is living in fairy land here.”
While federal agencies would not discuss their response in any detail, former government intelligence officials offered insight in to what is happening. Michael G. Vickers, who served as undersecretary of defense for intelligence from 2011 to 2015, said the approach would probably include three steps involving multiple federal agencies. First, there would be an effort by the FBI, assisted by other intelligence agencies, to nail down “attribution,” the identity of the hackers, by looking for telltale bits of identifying code that are left when such breaches occur. Second, he said there would be discussion among interagency experts “about the intelligence, the timing of the attack, and the release of the information.” Was information collected just to gain intelligence, to influence policy or politics, or as a “destructive act”? Third, he said there would careful deliberations about how to respond.