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Ex-CIA Director Hayden: Russia election meddling most successful covert operation in history
Ex-CIA Director Hayden: Russia election meddling was ‘most successful covert operation in history’
“Frankly, [the Russian meddling] is the most successful covert operation in history,” Hayden (former director of the NSA and the CIA) told a national security panel in response to a question from moderator Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff. Hayden said the original cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee was not that surprising — and even from an intelligence perspective, impressive.
“I just have to admit as a former director of NSA, Russia’s hack and theft of email is honorable state espionage,” Hayden said to audience laughter, speaking at the Aspen Security Conference. “If we as NSA could have an insight into … Russia through the same techniques, game on,” Hayden said. “But now you make the great distinction: What the Russians then did with the information. And then that turned it into what we call a covert influence operation.”
Hayden argued that the release of stolen Democratic emails on WikiLeaks was the Kremlin’s egregious act, not the hacks to obtain the information.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, also on the panel, responded that the Defense Department had issued a guideline which said attacks warrant a response if they result in loss of life or serious economic damage.
“The truth is the technology and the techniques that can be used have actually evolved more rapidly than our thinking about it,” Chertoff said. “The value of norms would be it would start to create a basis for law-abiding countries to know when they can respond to a cyber act as if it were an act of war.”
“Frankly, [the Russian meddling] is the most successful covert operation in history,” Hayden (former director of the NSA and the CIA) told a national security panel in response to a question from moderator Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff. Hayden said the original cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee was not that surprising — and even from an intelligence perspective, impressive.
“I just have to admit as a former director of NSA, Russia’s hack and theft of email is honorable state espionage,” Hayden said to audience laughter, speaking at the Aspen Security Conference. “If we as NSA could have an insight into … Russia through the same techniques, game on,” Hayden said. “But now you make the great distinction: What the Russians then did with the information. And then that turned it into what we call a covert influence operation.”
Hayden argued that the release of stolen Democratic emails on WikiLeaks was the Kremlin’s egregious act, not the hacks to obtain the information.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, also on the panel, responded that the Defense Department had issued a guideline which said attacks warrant a response if they result in loss of life or serious economic damage.
“The truth is the technology and the techniques that can be used have actually evolved more rapidly than our thinking about it,” Chertoff said. “The value of norms would be it would start to create a basis for law-abiding countries to know when they can respond to a cyber act as if it were an act of war.”
Chertoff's last point, about the technology evolving faster than American thinking, is why the USA has lost the opening engagement of Cold War 2.0, and is now having to play catch-up to an enemy that has already taken the high ground.
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