Barack Obama has ordered US intelligence to review evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election after coming under sustained pressure from congressional Democrats. The review will be one of Obama’s final instructions to the intelligence agencies, which will soon report to Donald Trump, whom congressional Democrats consider the beneficiary of a hack targeting the Democratic National Committee. Lisa Monaco, the White House counterterrorism director, announced what she called a “full review” at a breakfast briefing sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor on Friday. At the White House press briefing later on Friday, Eric Schultz, the deputy White House press secretary, denied the review was “an effort to challenge the outcome of the election”. “We have acknowledged who won the election,” he said. “It wasn’t the candidate the president campaigned for. He has gone out of his way to ensure a smooth transition of power.”
The review will span the last three presidential election cycles, Schultz told reporters. “These agencies will have to take a look at what we saw in 2008, 2012 and 2016. This is going to be a deep dive. This is a review that will be broad and deep at the same time. They’re going to look at where the activity leads them to look at.”
There were intrusions into both the Obama and John McCain campaigns in 2008, publicly attributed to the Chinese, he continued, and although there were no notable incidents in 2012, “knowing what we know now”, that election will also be scrutinised.
In 2016, he said, the government did not detect any increased cyber activity on election day itself but the FBI made public specific acts in the summer and fall, tied to the highest levels of the Russian government. “This is going to put that activity in a greater context … dating all the way back to 2008.”
Full Article: Barack Obama orders ‘full review’ of possible Russian hacking in US election | US news | The Guardian.