Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA under President Obama, speculated that American partners or allies could be interfering in U.S. elections.
Morell, who served as acting director of the agency twice, spoke at a “2020 Vision” panel sponsored by George Mason University at the National Press Club on Wednesday evening, pointing to then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coat’s testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee in January.
Coats told lawmakers that China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran — which he referred to as “the BIG 4” — were “advancing their cyber capabilities” as they try to disrupt and influence the populations of other countries.
“As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, we expect these actors, and others, to rely more and more on cyber capabilities when seeking to gain political, economic, and military advantages over the United States and its allies and partners,” Coats said.
Morell said Wednesday night that he thinks “and others” could refer to American allies.
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“Dan Coats mentioned the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans, and he said ‘and others.’ I know how carefully analysts write. I know that ‘and others’ actually means something, right, and there’s other countries that he did not want to mention that are also doing this. I’m interested to know who they are, and I think they’re probably some of our allies, actually,” Morell said while speaking on a panel about intelligence and the U.S. presidential election.
“Not only have the Russians not been deterred but because the Russians haven’t been deterred, this is now spreading and becoming a larger problem,” he added. “We know from public testimony by the director of national intelligence last January that others have seen the benefits of this and have joined them.”
Morell did not disclose which allies he thought could be interfering and whether the possible meddling could be to the detriment or benefit of President Trump.
A representative for the former intelligence official clarified to the Washington Examiner on Thursday that “allies” was “probably too narrow” a term to use, but Morell “is not going to publicly speculate on who it might be.”
“‘Others’ probably includes allies/partners based on the fact that the DNI did not name them. If they were adversaries, like say Cuba and Venezuela, he certainly would have,” the representative said.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Office for the Director of National Intelligence for comment on which other countries or actors might be meddling in U.S. elections.
