McCain: Russia interference an ‘attack on our democracy’
Print Edition
THE chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday that “every American should be alarmed” by Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and lawmakers pressed intelligence officials about foreign cyber threats.
There is “no escaping the fact that this committee meets today for the first time in this new Congress in the aftermath of an unprecedented attack on our democracy,” said Senator John McCain.
In their assessment, US intelligence agencies say Moscow interfered in the election to help Republican Donald Trump win against Democrat Hillary Clinton. A report on Russian and other foreign meddling in elections was delivered to President Barack Obama yesterday.
In prepared testimony, intelligence officials said Russia poses a major and growing threat to US government, military, diplomatic and commercial operations — as well as America’s critical infrastructure. Russia is among at least 30 nations that are developing capabilities to launch cyber attacks, according to their statement.
The hearing comes a day before the president-elect receives a briefing by the CIA and FBI directors — along with the head of national intelligence — on the investigation into Russia’s alleged hacking efforts.
Trump has criticized their findings and even seemed to back WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s contention that Russia did not provide him with hacked Democratic e-mails.
In new tweets early yesterday, Trump backed away from his apparent embrace of Assange. Trump blamed the “dishonest media” for portraying him as agreeing with Assange, whose organization has been under criminal investigation for its role in classified information leaks.
“The media lies to make it look like I am against ‘Intelligence’ when in fact I am a big fan!” Trump wrote.
The committee’s session is the first in a series aimed at investigating purported Russian cyber attacks against US interests and developing defenses sturdy enough to blunt future intrusions.
Appearing before the committee were James Clapper, the national intelligence director, Marcel Lettre, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, and Admiral Michael Rogers, National Security Agency chief and the top officer at the US Cyber Command.
Accusations that Russia interfered in the 2016 election by hacking Democratic e-mail accounts have roiled Washington for weeks. Obama struck back at Moscow in late December with penalties aimed at Russia’s leading spy agencies, the GRU and FSB, that the US said were involved. The GRU is Russia’s military intelligence agency. The FSB is the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
But Trump could easily rescind the sanctions. So far, he has publicly refused to accept the conclusion that Russia is responsible for the attacks. He escalated his criticism of US intelligence professionals, such as Clapper, by tweeting, without evidence, that an upcoming briefing on the suspected Russian hacking had been delayed, and said, “perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!”
‘Proportional’ response
Intelligence officials said there had been no delay.
Trump suggested on Wednesday in a tweet that one of Russia’s primary targets, the Democratic National Committee, could be to blame for being “so careless.”
The penalties imposed by Obama came after he pledged a “proportional” response to the hacking of the Democratic Party and presidential nominee Clinton’s campaign chairman. E-mails stolen during the campaign were released in the final weeks by WikiLeaks.
CIA Director John Brennan said in a December 16 message to employees that the FBI agreed with the agency’s conclusion that Russia’s goal was to support Trump in the election. Brennan wrote that he also had spoken with Clapper and said “there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election.”
Moscow has denied the hacking allegations and dismissed Obama’s sanctions as an attempt to “harm Russian-American ties.”
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