NSA Chief: US Alerted France to Russian Election Hacking
NSA Director Mike Rogers said France was informed of Russian meddling before hackers leaked emails stolen from Emmanuel Macron's campaign
IsraelDefense
| 11/05/2017
c-span.org
The US notified French officials of Russian digital meddling before hackers last week leaked internal documents stolen from the political party of centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers told Congress.
"If you take a look at the French elections … we had become aware of Russian activity," Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing. "We had talked to our French counterparts prior to the public announcements of the events that were publicly attributed this past weekend and gave them a heads up: ‘Look, we’re watching the Russians, we’re seeing them penetrate some of your infrastructure. Here’s what we’ve seen. What can we do to try to assist?'"
It’s believed that the leak in France – which came just days before voters went to the polls on Sunday – was intended to help nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen, who is friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rogers said that his agency is working with other European allies that have elections later this year, noting that US officials are "doing similar things with our German counterparts, our British counterparts."
Both Germany and Britain have already expressed fears that Russian hackers are trying to sway the outcomes of their elections.
Already, the US intelligence community has shared with key European allies its classified findings from an investigation into alleged Russian digital meddling during the 2016 US presidential election.
[Source: Politico]
NSA Director Mike Rogers said France was informed of Russian meddling before hackers leaked emails stolen from Emmanuel Macron's campaign
c-span.org
The US notified French officials of Russian digital meddling before hackers last week leaked internal documents stolen from the political party of centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers told Congress.
"If you take a look at the French elections … we had become aware of Russian activity," Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing. "We had talked to our French counterparts prior to the public announcements of the events that were publicly attributed this past weekend and gave them a heads up: ‘Look, we’re watching the Russians, we’re seeing them penetrate some of your infrastructure. Here’s what we’ve seen. What can we do to try to assist?'"
It’s believed that the leak in France – which came just days before voters went to the polls on Sunday – was intended to help nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen, who is friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rogers said that his agency is working with other European allies that have elections later this year, noting that US officials are "doing similar things with our German counterparts, our British counterparts."
Both Germany and Britain have already expressed fears that Russian hackers are trying to sway the outcomes of their elections.
Already, the US intelligence community has shared with key European allies its classified findings from an investigation into alleged Russian digital meddling during the 2016 US presidential election.
[Source: Politico]
