Top U.S. intelligence officials say they believe high-level Russian authorities were directly responsible for the hacking and leaking of documents from the Democratic National Committee in an effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
“We assess that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized the recent election-focused data thefts and disclosures,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Marcel Lettre said in prepared opening remarks for their testimony Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They called Russian cyber-attacks a “major threat” to national interests.
WATCH: Clapper on Russia hacking
While the intelligence chiefs agreed that Russia was involved in hacking the DNC documents, Clapper noted that the intelligence community “can’t gauge” any effect the information released by WikiLeaks might have had on citizens’ choices in the voting booth.
“They did not change any vote tallies or anything like that,” he said.
Clapper went on to say that China also has successfully conducted cyber espionage against the U.S. government in the recent past, though China’s attempts to hack the U.S. have waned since the two countries signed a bilateral agreement to limit espionage in 2015.
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Combatant Commanders and Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House in Washington, DC, Jan. 4, 2017.
Obama ordered review
President Barack Obama ordered the intelligence community to review potential foreign interference dating back to the 2008 election that first brought him to the White House. A U.S. official confirmed to VOA that Obama was to hear the results of the probe Thursday, and that President-elect Donald Trump will get the same briefing on Friday.
The Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have both concluded that the Russian government was behind the 2016 hacking, and intentionally divulged the documents via WikiLeaks to disrupt the election.
In his opening remarks before the Senate hearing Thursday, committee chairman John McCain said “every American should be alarmed” by Russia’s actions. He said “Congress must set partisanship aside” in probing and preventing cyber attacks on America.
WATCH: McCain on Russia hacking
A Senate Foreign Relations Committee closed-door hearing later Thursday will feature Homeland Security cybersecurity official Danny Toler and State Department officials Victoria Nuland and Gentry Smith.
Obama responded to Russia last week with a set of sanctions targeting the country’s leading spy agencies and the expulsion of 35 “intelligence operatives.”
FILE – President-elect Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.
Trump on hacking
President-elect Trump has repeatedly expressed doubt that Russia meddled in the vote. In a series of tweets starting late Tuesday, Trump taunted the CIA, FBI and other agencies, suggesting they still don’t have proof that Russia penetrated Democratic party computers and gave the documents to WikiLeaks.
On Thursday, however, he tweeted that “media lies” made it look as if he was against the intelligence community “when in fact I’m a big fan!”
And then early Wednesday, after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared on Fox News denying the Russian government gave WikiLeaks stolen Democratic documents, Trump followed up: “Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ – why was DNC so careless?”
Trump was referring to thousands of emails and documents that hackers took from the computers of the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta, which were published by WikiLeaks in the weeks leading up to the election.
On Thursday, prior to the hearing, Trump continued his criticism, saying that the “dishonest media” was twisting his position on the hacking issue.
“The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange – wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people to make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against “Intelligence” when in fact I am a big fan!” Trump said in back-to-back tweets.
FILE – Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks with reporters in the Senate Press Gallery on Capitol Hill, in Washington.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump critic, sharply questioned the president-elect’s reliance on Assange.
“Assange has a record of undermining the United States,” Graham said on Twitter. “I don’t believe any American should give a whole lot of credibility to anything Julian Assange says.”
U.S. Senate Correspondent Michael Bowman and National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story.
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