WASHINGTON: The US intelligence agencies have warned that Russian hackers would try to subvert the November 8 presidential election results to some extent to create doubts about their legitimacy.
The warning came after months of investigation to ascertain whether the Russian hackers had hacked into the computers of National Democratic Committee. The investigators accused Moscow of conspiring to disrupt the democratic process in the United States.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton denounced Russia and referred to her Republic rival Donald Trump as a “puppet” of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Republican candidate refused to blame the Russians outright saying the hacking could have been done by anyone.
In the first presidential debate Mr Trump said: “I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?”
The issue of cyber attacks was taken very seriously by the US administration. President Barak Obama talked directly about it with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of last G-20 summit. The Russian President then denied having knowledge of who was behind the hacking of the DNC computer.
The Senate intelligence committee had publicly accused Russia of attempting to interfere in the US election by hacking political organisations and carrying out related acts. But it has made no statement on links between Russia and Trump or his campaign. Last week, Senate minority leader Harry Reid asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to disclose the evidence on close ties and coordination between Mr Trump, his top advisors and the Russian government.
In a letter to the FBI director James B Comey, Reid stated: “I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it. And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information.”
Officials told the Washington Post that they did not see Russia as capable of using cyberespionage to alter the outcome of the presidential election, but they warned that Moscow might continue meddling after the voting has ended.
They said it was more likely that Russia would use hacking tools to expose or fabricate signs of vote-rigging, aiming to delegitimize an election outcome that Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he may refuse to accept if he does not win.
The officials fear there is still time for last-minute disruptions, even if the overall election appears relatively secure. Several officials said they fear that even an isolated operation that forces a voting system offline could erode confidence.
No forgeries have so far been identified among the thousands of files that US officials believe were stolen by Russia and essentially laundered to the US public and media through the WikiLeaks website.
Analysts observed the concerns about late-election vulnerabilities have factored into the Obama administration’s reluctance so far to retaliate against Russia. The White House has opted against authorising any countermeasures despite high confidence across US spy agencies that Russia alone orchestrated the digital theft of thousands of sensitive documents posted online in recent months by WikiLeaks.
The US officials were considering the options of kicking more suspected Russian intelligence officers out of the United States, imposing new economic sanctions against Russian entities tied to the alleged hacking and potentially launching cyberattacks on Russian computer systems. The administration’s decision could depend on what the Russians do in the coming days. An election-disrupting attack would probably trigger a more aggressive US response, according to officials. US officials say the stakes have been made clear to Moscow.
The White House does not believe Russia’s operations were aimed at delivering an election win for Mr Trump, while Ms Clinton was adamant that Russia was seeking to ensure her defeat.
Analysts said the hacking and leaks had weakened Ms Clinton campaign, exposed infighting between her and Bernie Sanders and forced the resignation of the DNC chief.