Intelligence experts on consequences of Russian hacking
Ahead of the release of a comprehensive report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, two former intelligence officials talked about the latest information on Russian hacking attempts as well as President-elect Donald Trump’s comments on the issue.
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said Russia’s intention in interfering is still “hard to discern.” Asked by CBSN’s Elaine Quijano whether Russia’s actions amount to an “act of war,” Hurd, who served as an undercover CIA agent in the Middle East, stopped short of calling them that -- but said any attempts to influence U.S. elections “should not be tolerated.”
“This is a hearing that we’ve had in the last Congress and will continue to have,” he told Quijano in an interview for “Red and Blue,” CBSN’s new daily politics show. “A manipulation of our political process in any way should not be tolerated, that’s why you have to have swift action, and there has to be consequences to this type of behavior.”
It’s not a partisan issue, Hurd continued: “Here’s the reality: I’m a Republican and the DCCC and the DNC spent over $6 million trying to unseat me. But an attack on them is an attack on all of us and we can’t let that stand.”
Hurd’s comments come the same day Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified on Capitol Hill about Russian hacking threats.
Hurd said he expects the coming report to help fill in intelligence gaps when it comes to Russia’s involvement -- but that many of the revelations will likely come in a “classified environment,” not the version of the report that’s released to the public.
“Here’s the reality when it comes to intelligence: a lot of this information shouldn’t be out in the public domain,” he said. “In order to answer some of the strategic questions that we need answered, you need very well-placed human sources … and the revelation of information that they provide could ultimately hurt them and their family.”
As President Obama commissioned this report, and as all the major U.S. intelligence agencies announced last month that they were confident Russia had worked to influence the election on Mr. Trump’s behalf, Mr. Trump has been critical of the intelligence community as a whole.
James Woolsey, a former CIA director who has been advising Mr. Trump, said it’s inaccurate to say Mr. Trump has been “trashing” the U.S. intelligence community -- and that the situation has been “rather blown out of proportion.”
“I think trashing is an inaccurately colorful characterization of what Donald Trump has said, but he has been critical, there’s no doubt about that,” Woolsey said.
He added that Russian attempts to influence foreign elections are nothing new, saying they’ve been attempting it in Europe for decades.
“The Russians do this all the time … photoshopping pictures, setting up fake newspaper stories, all of this,” he said. “They’ve been doing since the 1930s or at least the 1940s.”
Asked whether there is any concern that Mr. Trump is tweeting about Russia before receiving his classified briefing on the Russian election interference report Friday, Woolsey said Mr. Trump still has not been inaugurated as president, so he’s a “private citizen” who can say whatever he wants.
“He’s still a private citizen he can talk about what he wants to talk about,” he said. “I think that the situation with whatever it is the Russians have done is still complicated and somewhat ambiguous.”
“Red and Blue” airs Mondays through Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBSN.
