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The director of US national intelligence sees Russia as "the most aggressive foreign actor" in cyberattacks. The threat of such attacks has reached a "critical point", said Dan Coats at an event in Washington. The digital infrastructure is "literally attacked" and the lights "flash red".
Coats cited Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as the worst assailants, with Russia being the most aggressive "without question". The digital infrastructure is invaded every day. The targets are companies, authorities and infrastructure, said the director of secret services. The attacks were intended to undermine democracy on a daily basis, whether elections are held or not.
On Friday, US justice charged 12 Russian intelligence officials with hacking during the 2016 US election campaign, including charges of stealing e-mails and documents from Democratic Party computers and the election campaign of their presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
The charges are based on investigations by Special Investigator Robert Mueller. Interventions in the election campaign and possible involvement of Donald Trump's staff in these interferences examined. Trump denies that his campaign has worked with Russia.
"I can only say:" Did you do anything? "
Coats comments arrive at a critical moment: Monday, Trump plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki during his European tour. Before Trump's meeting with Putin, the New York Times said it seemed like the president was following a completely different policy on Russia and its government.
The US president often criticized Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt". During his meeting with Putin, Trump still wants to address the issue of Russian interference in the US election campaign. However, one should not expect that he investigates extensively or critically Putin's statements. "I can only say," Have you done anything? "Trump said a few days ago at a press conference in Brussels." And: "Do not do it again." But he could deny it. "
Already at their meeting on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Vietnam in November, Trump and Putin had talked about the topic.At the time, the US president said that he believed in Putin's creed: "He absolutely declared that he was not ingesting us in our election, and I really believe that he means what he tells me." [19659010Peudetempsaprèsavoirannoncéqu'ilcroyaitauxprotestationsdePoutineTrumpavaitànouveauchangéd'avisIlpensaitquePoutineétaitconvaincuqueluietlaRussien'avaientpasinterférédanslesélectionsIl-Trump-croirelesservicessecrets(UnecompilationdesremarquesdeTrumpsurlesujetpeutêtretrouvéeenanglaisici)
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In February, Trump had tweeted that he had never said that Russia had not interfered in the elections. He said it could have been Russia, China or another country or group – "or a 400-pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer."
Trump is a bit on this sight alone there. The United States has already imposed sanctions on Russia for attempts to interfere. This month, Republican and Democrat members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that Russia was trying to influence the election in favor of Trump in 2016.
US intelligence agencies are also pursuing Russian activities. They – the CIA, the NSA, the FBI and the Office of the National Intelligence Director – all agree that Russia has been ingested in the 2016 elections.
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Among other things, the system of voter registration in Illinois has been infiltrated. And in a federal state, it would have been necessary to let pass for several weeks that Russian intelligence officials would have stolen information about 500,000 voters from an electoral database. US officials believe that it may be possible in the future to manipulate voting results or shut down election computer systems.
Even members of the Trump government express themselves clearly. Recent example: Homeland Security Minister Kirstjen Nielsen said there was no indication that Russia was targeting the mid-term elections this year to the same extent as the 2016 presidential election – which implies that Nielsen considers past interference as taken for granted. 19659005] Nielsen said his ministry will help election organizers in states and communities prepare their system for cyber-attacks from Russia and elsewhere. US intelligence agencies would continue stubborn Russian efforts to sow disunity and discord among Americans, say, on social media – but not necessarily in relation to certain politicians or election campaigns.
