Robert Gates: US response to Russia hacks has been ‘laid back’

In a clip released Saturday evening of a “Meet the Press” interview set to air Sunday morning, Gates was asked by host Chuck Todd whether the Obama administration, congressional leaders and President-elect Trump have responded appropriately to Russia’s apparent meddling, which U.S. intelligence officials now say was intended to undermine Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“No I think that given the unprecedented nature of it and the magnitude of the effort, I think people seem to have been somewhat laid back about it,” said Gates, who led the CIA from November 1991 to January 1993 under President George W. Bush.

“Maybe part of the problem was that it took the intelligence community a while to assemble really firm evidence of Russian involvement and Russian government involvement that delayed a response,” he continued. “Attribution is a challenge but it seems pretty clear to me that they’ve developed really reliable information that the Russian government was involved.”

President Obama said Friday at his year-end press conference that his administration is “taking the time to think through and figure out … a thoughtful and methodical” response that is likely to include some retaliatory measures that will remain private. Meanwhile, congressional leaders have announced bipartisan investigations into the hacks.

Trump, for his part, tweeted a jab at the White House this week, asking why it took the Obama administration so long to respond to the hack.

“If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”, Trump tweeted. He added, “Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?”