The Obama administration said Friday it was "confident" that Russia was behind recent hackings of emails about upcoming US elections in an attempt to interfere with the process.
The
announcement marks the first time the US administration has officially
accused Russia of hacking into US political systems. Earlier in the
week, the two countries broke off formal talks about a ceasefire in
Syria.
"We
believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only
Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,"
the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of
National Intelligence said in a joint statement.
"The
recent disclosures of alleged hacked emails on sites like DCLeaks.com
and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with
the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts," the statement
added. "These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the
US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow -- the Russians
have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for
example, to influence public opinion there."
The
announcement was referring to the breach of Democratic National
Committee emails and the sites of other Democratic Party-linked
organizations disclosed over the summer.
Officials
told CNN that Friday's announcement follows long deliberations within
the Obama administration as to whether and when to take this step. They
have had confidence on the assessment for some time, with the only
question being whether to go public. Previously law enforcement and
intelligence officials had pointed to Russia anonymously, with lawmakers
among the few to go on record accusing Moscow of being behind the
intrusions.
The collapse of the
US-Russian relationship in other areas, such as Syria, played a role as
well, removing incentives for the White House to remain silent on the
matter.
On Friday, Secretary of
State John Kerry went so far as to call for Russian and Syrian military
strikes against civilians and medical facilities in Aleppo to be
investigated as "war crimes."
In a
further sign of the deteriorating US-Russia relationship, the Wall
Street Journal reported later in the day that Moscow deployed
nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad. The Russian enclave sits next
to US allies Lithuania and Poland, further boosting tensions between
Russia and Eastern European countries now in the Western fold.
The
administration, however, disputes that there was any delay in naming
Russia, saying the announcement was made public as soon as the proper
evidence to make an official attribution of responsibility was gathered.
"We
also worked as quickly as possible to release as much information as
possible in order to provide state and local officials sufficient time
to fortify their infrastructure," a senior administration official told
CNN.
Another senior administration
official said that the major focus of making the announcement at this
time was an effort to reassure the public that government is on top of
the situation, that officials know who carried out the hacking and that
the US political system can withstand the attacks.
The joint announcement Friday from the
two agencies said the US wasn't yet ready to attribute blame for a
series of additional hacks and attempted hacks of voter registration
websites in several states.
But US
intelligence and law enforcement officials told CNN that there's strong
evidence Russian intelligence services are also behind the cyberattacks
against state voter registration websites.
There
has been debate within the intelligence community about whether to
"name and shame" the Russians for the cyberattacks. Some in the FBI and
Justice Department felt the evidence was strong enough to point the
finger, but others in US intelligence agencies and the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence felt it could encourage retaliation or
the exposure of US intelligence operations.
Others
in the White House worried about the political overtones over naming
Russia, fearing it would be seen as an effort to help Democrat Hillary
Clinton given the warm exchanges between Republican candidate Donald
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The
attack on the Democratic National Committee exposed emails appearing to
favor Clinton over opponent Bernie Standards exchanged between senior
staffers and the DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was eventually
required to step down following their disclosure.
Hackers
thought to be working for Russian intelligence have also carried out a
series of cyber breaches targeting reporters at The New York Times and
other US news organizations.
Democrats
on Congress' intelligence committees were ahead of the administration
by a few weeks in deciding to publicly point to Moscow, releasing a
statement on September 22 that said they had "concluded" that Russian
intelligence agencies were responsible for the intrusions.
Trump
has voiced skepticism about whether the Russians are to blame for the
hacks, saying at a recent debate that it could also be "somebody sitting
on their bed that weighs 400 pounds."
The
Clinton camp on Friday sought to turn the latest conclusion into a
broader attack on Trump's friendly posture toward the country.
"The
world now knows, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that the hack of the
Democratic National Committee was carried out by the Russian government
in a clear attempt to interfere with the integrity of our elections,"
said John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chair, in a statement. "The only
remaining question is why Donald Trump continues to make apologies for
the Russians."
Some Republicans on
Capitol Hill who have called for a tough stance against the Kremlin
applauded the Obama administration decision but pressed for more
confrontation.
"We cannot allow
such actions to go unanswered," said GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, chair of
the House Homeland Security Committee. "Vladimir Putin's regime has
crossed a line, and he should know that the United States will not allow
our political process or our future to be dictated by foreign
adversaries."
"Today was just the
first step -- Russia must face serious consequences," said Sen. Ben
Sasse, Republican of Nebraska. "The United States must upend Putin's
calculus with a strong diplomatic, political, cyber, and economic
response."
One Democrat offered a less hawkish response.
Adam
Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called
for the US to work with European allies to "develop a concerted response
that protects our institutions and deters further meddling."
