U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) has requested that the nation’s lead security officials answer questions about whether the Obama administration properly handled Russian cyberattacks during the United States 2016 presidential election.
“These cyber threats and the failure of the Obama Administration to take action are particularly alarming,” Rep. Ratcliffe wrote in a June 25 letter sent to National Security Advisor John Bolton and copied to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Rep. Ratcliffe, who is chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee, is particularly interested in getting answers to his questions about the Obama administration’s “stand-down” order, which was made in response to Russia’s 2016 election meddling.
The order was confirmed last week by Michael Daniel, former White House cybersecurity coordinator under President Barack Obama, during testimony for the U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee, which held a hearing to review policy responses by both the Obama and Trump administrations to Russian election interference. Daniel now is president of the Washington, D.C.-based Cyber Threat Alliance.
“Given ongoing developments shedding light on improper adherence to standard practice and the presence of pervasive bias at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice during the Obama Administration, the “stand down” order raises further troubling questions about whether Obama Administration officials appropriately carried out their duties to protect the national security of the United States, or rather used their authority to carry out politically-motivated objectives,” wrote Rep. Ratcliffe.
For instance, the Obama administration had also “launched an aggressive investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia,” he wrote. But then former national security advisor “Susan Rice’s ‘stand down’ order in response to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election occurred almost simultaneously with the launch of the Trump campaign investigation. Was this a politically motivated move by the Obama administration?” Ratcliffe tweeted on June 25.
Rep. Ratcliffe also wrote that Victoria Nuland, former Obama administration State Department spokeswoman, had testified during last week’s Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing that Russian President Vladimir Putin had expected deterrent measures after Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, but didn’t see a response, so he felt he could “keep pushing.”
To further assess whether appropriate steps were taken to protect the United States from cyberattacks, Rep. Ratcliffe asked Bolton to answer – “either in writing or a classified briefing” – several questions: 1.) Did Susan Rice issue the stand-down order on her own volition, or at the behest of other Obama administration officials? 2.) What justification, if any, did Susan Rice use to support issuance of the stand-down order? 3.) Did Susan Rice depart from traditional practice and procedure of the National Security Council in issuing the stand-down order?
“We owe it to the American people to ensure that the federal government follows its own rules, without regard to partisan bias and motivations,” concluded Rep. Ratcliffe.
The congressman’s inquiry comes at a crucial time in the overall investigation as special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia has picked up steam this month.