Calls for immediate action to tighten cyber-security and for Trump to
denounce the Russian actions
Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), co-founder and co-chair of
the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus and a senior member of the House
Committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security, released the following
statement in response to the Director of National Intelligence’s attribution
report on Russian election interference and the decision by DHS Secretary Jeh
Johnson to designate election systems as critical infrastructure:
“Thanks to the dedicated men and women of our intelligence
community, the involvement of the Russian government in interfering with our
elections has been laid bare. The conclusion of the report is unequivocal: ‘We
assess that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in
2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.’
"As I have stated before, such activity constitutes a blow to
the very heart of our democracy, and it demands at least the level of response
President Obama laid out last week. While the influence operation had multiple
facets, at the heart was the hacking of emails from the Democratic National
Committee and the staff of the Clinton campaign.
“It is essential that we take action immediately to improve our
cybersecurity and reduce the risk of future such attacks, which is why I
reiterate my call to Speaker Ryan to appoint a Select Committee on
Cybersecurity to examine the attacks. The American people deserve a full
accounting of the facts.
“Moscow’s goal was, first and foremost, to undermine faith in the American system of government. Thus it is important to note that no systems used for the casting or counting of votes are believed to have been affected by hacking.
“Nonetheless, I believe Secretary Johnson’s decision to declare
election systems critical infrastructure demonstrates the vital need to ensure
votes can’t be tampered with. We must also act as a nation to build our
resilience against future information warfare attacks.
“Putin’s other goal was to harm the candidacy of Secretary Clinton
in favor of President-elect Trump. That is why it is essential that Mr. Trump
act immediately to denounce this act of Russian interference and pledge to
continue and enhance sanctions on Russia in response.
“To do any less is a betrayal of our fundamental American values
and will give license for Putin to continue his attacks on our elections and
democracies around the world.”
