Tweeting, Not Leading, the Response to Russian Hacking - NYT Editorial Board

In a comprehensive report late last week, The Washington Post described how narrow-minded politics and dithering by the Obama administration and congressional Republicans allowed Moscow to go largely unpunished for an assault on the American electoral process.

The intelligence community said in August that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was directing an extensive cyberattack on the 2016 election. The Obama administration’s response, though, was late and weak, despite its concerns. But President Trump, the intended beneficiary of Moscow’s hacking, has been not just cautious but also remarkably indifferent to what should have been a critical nonpartisan national security concern from his first day in office.

For six months, Mr. Trump has had unfettered access to intelligence on the hacking. He has had six months to authorize covert action, propose tougher economic sanctions, order a more muscular diplomatic response and protect election systems. He has done nothing that meets the eye. Instead, the White House is lobbying against legislation passed by the Senate this month imposing stricter sanctions on Moscow, in part because the bill contains a provision making it harder for Mr. Trump to lift them. And the White House is considering returning to Moscow two compounds in the United States used by Russian spies that were seized by the Obama administration in late December.

In a Jan. 6 report, the intelligence community called Russian efforts to influence the election “the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations.” In a warning that action needs to be taken now, intelligence officials say Russia will redouble its efforts in the United States and elsewhere after its success in 2016 and that electoral mechanisms need to be shored up before the congressional election of 2018, and in European nations, which are even more vulnerable.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/opinion/russia-investigation-hacking-obama-trump.html