US sanctions Russia over election hacking, expels 35 diplomats

President Obama

The Obama administration on Thursday announced a wide swath of retaliatory measures against Russia in response to a hacking campaign geared at interfering in the U.S. election, CNN reports.

The measures include a list of economic sanctions, diplomatic censure and public “naming and shaming.”

The president also hinted at possible covert cyber measures, but did not provide details.

The president also announced that the State Department will expel 35 Russian intelligence operatives and shut two Russian compounds, in Maryland and New York, used by Russia for intelligence purposes.

The sanctions target two of Russia’s main intelligence organizations — the GRU and the FSB — four individual GRU officers, and three companies who provided support to the GRU.

To levy the sanctions, Obama broadened a 2015 executive order giving the president the authority to punish foreign actors who carry out cyberattacks against the U.S.

The order allows the Treasury Department to freeze the assets of individuals or entities who used digital means to damage U.S. critical infrastructure or engage in economic espionage.

The changes expanded the order to allow Treasury to sanction individuals and entities “responsible for tampering, altering, or causing the misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.”

Further, Obama announced that the Department of Homeland Security and FBI will declassify “technical information on Russian civilian and military intelligence service cyber activity” to help networks defend against “Russia’s global campaign of malicious cyber activities.”

The president also signalled that the U.S. will undertake some covert action against Russia.

“These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities,” Obama said in a statement.

“We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized.”

Obama has been under fierce pressure to respond to Russia over the Intelligence Community’s (IC) assessment that the Kremlin was behind the theft and release of emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta and other Democratic political organizations.

The two intelligence agencies targeted by the sanctions, the FSB and the GRU, are believed to have carried out the attacks.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, is the main successor to the KGB — once headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The FSB is thought to be behind the hacking group known as “Cozy Bear.”

A more traditional, long-range intelligence agency, the FSB lurked on the DNC systems for months.

The GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, is thought to be behind the second group that infiltrated the DNC, known as “Fancy Bear.”

Fancy Bear is also believed to have breached Podesta’s emails.

Despite their overlapping targets, the two agencies have different missions in the cyber realm.

Fancy Bear is thought to be the group responsible for “doxxing” the DNC and Podesta by allegedly providing the stolen missives to WikiLeaks to publish.

Putin has denied any involvement in the hacks.

The IC in October made an official announcement blaming Russia for “interfering” in the U.S. election, but the administration took no other public action.

Subsequent leaks from anonymous officials have said that the CIA believes the campaign was an explicit attempt by Putin to ensure Donald Trump’s victory.

Despite calls from all corners to establish a firm deterrent to the kind of influence campaign undertaken by Moscow, the White House moved cautiously.

“The debate, I think, within the [Obama] administration has always been: Will steps risk too much of an escalation?” the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, said in an interview with The Atlantic earlier this week.

The U.S. throughout the fall was engaged in tense, fragile cease-fire talks with Russia over Syria.

But critics have characterized Russia’s attempt to meddle in the election as an “unprecedented” attack on American democracy — one that demanded a response.

Cyber policy experts have argued that covert cyber actions would not be enough.

The U.S. needed to respond to Russia publicly to signal to other nations that interfering in the U.S democratic process carries a high risk.

Some — like Schiff — say Obama was too cautious.

“I think the process of sanctioning Russia should have begun far earlier, and we should have worked with our European allies to impose costs on Russia,” Schiff said in the interview Tuesday.

“That would have also telegraphed to the American people how serious this was.”

“The impact has been inviting too much Russian interference because there hasn’t been enough of a pushback. I think [the Obama administration] have erred too much on the side of caution. And that has ended up costing us.”

Democrats had urged Obama to respond before he cedes the White House to Trump on Jan. 20, fearing that the president-elect would take no action.

Trump has famously praised Russian president Vladimir Putin and expressed a desire for warmer relations with the Kremlin.

Some Republicans, meanwhile, also called for retaliation, but have argued that the response should come from the new administration.

“Let the new Congress and the new president deal with Russia, pass new sanctions, much tougher than the ones we already have,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday, arguing that “you need to hit Russia in a sustained fashion.”

Democrats quickly praised news of the sanctions.

"I hope the incoming Trump administration, which has been far too close to Russia throughout the campaign and transition, won’t think for one second about weakening these new sanctions or our existing regime," Sen. Chuck Schumer(D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

The president-elect has continued to deny Russian involvement in the election, treating any suggestion to that effect as an attack on the legitimacy of his forthcoming presidency.

Obama has similarly been under pressure to provide documentation backing up the IC’s claims that Russia was involved.

"If the CIA Director [John] Brennan and others at the top are serious about turning over evidence … they should do that," Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said earlier this month.

"They should not be leaking to the media. If there's evidence, let's see it."