The White House on Tuesday defended itself against criticism after the head of U.S. Cyber Command told lawmakers he has not yet been authorized to disrupt Russian election hacking operations or thwart potential attacks on the 2018 midterm elections.
Adm. Mike Rogers, who leads the National Security Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee he has not received authorization from President Trump or Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to take action against Russian actors. Rogers did say, however, that he has not sought permission to do so and has instead been acting within the authority he has as the head of U.S. Cyber Command.
“We have not opted to engage in some of the same behaviors we are seeing,” Rogers told the panel. “Everything that as both director of NSA and what I see on the Cyber Command side leads me to believe that if we don’t change the dynamic here, he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is going to continue, and 2016 won’t be viewed as something isolated.”
Despite Rogers’ testimony, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration is “looking at a number of different ways” to counter renewed Russian attempts at election meddling.
“Nobody is denying him authority,” Sanders said of the NSA chief. “The president is looking at all of the different causes and all of the different ways that we could prevent it.”
“I can tell you that we are taking a number of steps to prevent this,” she added.
Rogers’ appearance on Capitol Hill comes on the heels of the administration’s announcement last week that it is weighing new sanctions against Russia over the country’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
