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(WASHINGTON) – The Obama Administration is expected to announce as early as Thursday the retaliatory steps it plans to take against Russia for the alleged cyber-assault that may have impacted the U.S. presidential election, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In addition, federal authorities are also expected to lay out in further detail why it is so confident that Russia was behind the hacks and tried to influence the U.S. election. Sources say that groups believed to be involved in the Russia-backed operations will be named.
Authorities say a Russia-backed cyber assault on Democratic political organizations during the 2016 presidential campaign resulted in the leaked e-mails that proved embarrassing to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Sources tell ABC News the announcement would only include public steps, particularly economic sanctions, and is not expected to cite any possible covert actions being taken by US intelligence agencies.
The announcement expected tomorrow is not the culmination of the broad review of Russian hacking recently ordered by President Obama. That review is still ongoing, and findings won’t be released until next month. The announcement expected as early as tomorrow will instead involve public steps against Russia, and will add a little more “clarity” as to why authorities believe Russia is to blame, one source said.
The Washington Post first reported that the new actions against Russia could be announced as early as this week.
Cyber-retaliation against Russia for allegedly meddling in the U.S. election may be limited by fear among U.S. officials of Russia’s ability to fire back with devastating consequences.
According to Anup Ghosh, a former top government cyber-expert, and CEO of cyber-security firm Invincea, American officials are aware that the Russians have already penetrated portions of U.S. critical infrastructure. And Ghosh says the Russians “have the capability and the will” to pull the trigger on these cyber implants – Russia used similar malware in cyber-attacks that crippled huge swaths of the Ukrainian power grid during the Crimean crisis. Ghosh is a former top official at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, an arm of the Defense Department that creates and adapts emerging technologies for military use.
Ghosh says a significant U.S. cyber-attack on Russia would carry “a huge risk” of retaliation, and that he doubts that the U.S. could “dominate that retaliation.” That is one of the unspoken reasons why the Obama Administration has been saying any retaliation against Russia will be “proportional,” he believes.
He said he expects that the primary U.S. action will have to be similar to the approach used against China –- where sanctions, diplomatic and law enforcement tools would be used to try to deter the behavior.
When asked about the U.S. response to the Russian cyber-attack, White House spokesman Josh Earnest would only say that the United States “will respond at a time and with a means of our choosing.”
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