Reuters
Vice President Mike Pence put the blame for 2016 election interference squarely on Russia and pledged that the Trump administration would step up efforts to deter cyberattacks against U.S. democracy.
“While other nations possessed the capability, Russia meddled in our 2016 election,” Pence said Tuesday in his first significant speech about cybersecurity. “That is the unambiguous judgment of our intelligence community, and as the president said, we ‘accept the intelligence community’s conclusion.’”
Pence’s remarks, delivered at a government-hosted cybersecurity summit in New York, amounted to the White House’s strongest condemnation of Russia’s election interference to date. Their directness stood in contrast to mixed messages from President Donald Trump in recent weeks, in which he has at times played down the role of Moscow in election interference and suggested others could be to blame, while also saying he accepted the finding of Russia’s culpability.
The summit was an attempt by the Trump administration to project a united front on prioritizing cybersecurity as a top national security concern, amid criticism from lawmakers in both parties that it hasn’t developed a coherent cybersecurity strategy, particularly on safeguarding the 2018 midterms from hacking or other forms of Russian interference.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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