U.S. Intelligence officials testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday morning, addressing Russia’s election cyberattack, and the overall importance of U.S. intelligence forces. President Barack Obama called for the hearing after responding with sanctions and expulsions of Russian diplomats last week. An unclassified report on Russian hacking of Democratic National Committee emails is expected early next week.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, opened the hearing with a statement: “The goal of this review, as I understand it, is not to question the outcome of the presidential election. Nor should it be. As both President Obama and President-elect Trump have said, our nation must move forward. But we must do so with full knowledge of the facts.”

Top-ranking members of the intelligence community, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, answered questions from a bi-partisan cohort of lawmakers. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) asked Clapper if it’s healthy when elected officials question U.S. intelligence, likely alluding to President-elect Donald Trump. Skepticism is healthy, he said, but “there’s a difference between skepticism and disparagement.”

Clapper added: “Congress must set partisanship aside, follow the facts, and work together to devise comprehensive solutions to deter, defend against, and, when necessary, respond to foreign cyberattacks.” Since the CIA and the FBI concluded that Russia was the culprit behind the DNC hack, and in fact likely interfered with the aim of electing Trump, the president-elect has disputed those findings, and has seemed to place more trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin than U.S. intelligence.

Trump said the idea of Russia interfering in the presidential election on his behalf is “ridiculous.” Using his Twitter account as a megaphone, Trump has undermined the intelligence community’s findings, and has urged Congress to “move on.” Democrats and Republicans alike have expressed alarm at the Russian hack, and at Trump’s seeming ambivalence in responding to the cyberattack.

In a pair of tweets on Wednesday, Trump quoted Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, who said Russia did not provide him with any hacked emails. “Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ – why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!” Trump tweeted, referring to Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, whose emails were leaked in the weeks and months  leading up to Election Day. In Thursday’s hearing, Clapper was asked if Assange is a reliable source of information. “Not in my view,” he replied.

Last week, Obama responded to the Russian hack in a flurry of diplomatic moves. He ejected 35 Russian diplomats from the U.S., ordered the closure of two Russian-owned compounds in Maryland and Virginia, and slapped sanctions on a Russian intelligence agency. Trump has viewed the intelligence agencies’ conclusions, and the uproar from both parties, as a way to undermine his election victory. 

Lindsey Graham, the outspoken Republican senator from South Carolina, addressed Trump directly as the hearing came to a close. “I want to let the president-elect to know that it’s okay to challenge the intel,” he said, “but what I don’t want you to do is undermine those who are serving our nation in this arena until you’re absolutely sure they need to be undermined.” Graham added: “The foundation of democracy is political parties, and when one political party is compromised all of us are compromised.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Earlier this week, there was a meeting between the heads of the country’s leading intelligence agencies: FBI Director James Comey, National Intelligence Director James Clapper, and CIA Director John Brennan. The gathering’s subject matter: Russia’s hacking of email networks during the presidential election. On Friday, an official with direct knowledge of the meeting said that the agencies now agree that Russia’s hacking operation had the intention of putting President-elect Donald Trump in the White House.

When the CIA first announced its assessment that Russia had indeed hacked into both the Democratic and Republican email networks, only leaked the Democrat’s emails, and aimed to aid Trump, the FBI was hesitant to come to the same conclusion. Trump has called the CIA’s claims “ridiculous,” and continues to deflect any notion that he was aided by Russia.

The official close to the FBI said that the bureau was timid at first because officials entertained other motives for the Russian hacks: Perhaps Russia was trying to undermine Clinton’s position if she were to be elected, or maybe it was a personal rebuke as a result of her dicey past with Putin? Eventually, the FBI agreed that Russia’s actions were motivated by putting Trump in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Trump’s opponent during the election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, told Democratic Party donors on Friday that the Russian breach was not only directed by President Vladimir Putin, but that the episode was a personal attack on her. She said Putin has a “personal beef” with her, alluding to her statement five years ago that Russia’s parliamentary elections were”rigged.” Clinton said: “Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election.”

But Clinton also called the Russian hacks “an attack against our country,” not just her campaign. “We are well beyond normal political concerns here,” she said. “This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation.” President Barack Obama, in his final news conference of the year, defended his handling of the Russian hacks. He said he even delivered this stern command to Putin when they met in September: “Cut it out.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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