President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming team will consider numerous options to punish the Russian government for the unprecedented hacking attack on various US government departments; once he assumes presidential office on January 20, the actions can range from retaliation to new financial sanctions.
RushHourDaily quoted close aids to Biden and said that the sanctions or the retaliation will be hard on the rival nation but avoid any conflict escalation between the two nuclear-armed countries. It further added that any plan of action would surely include a counter espionage-attack to creative, effective deterrence and curb any future potential hack threats from Moscow.
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The news agency reported that the Russian hacking crisis would be a priority for the incoming president. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the incumbent acknowledged the cyberattack but stated that Russia was wrongfully being blamed for the unprecedented breach and accused the local media of exaggerating the incident. Trump’s comments were contrary to his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who on Friday, maintained that the state department was sure about the Russian involvement.
At this point, the discussions by the Biden transition team are theoretical, and once they are in the White House, their plans will be refined as they get a view of the crisis and US capabilities. Besides that, before they take any action, his team would have to better grasp the American intelligence about the cyberattack.
Moreover, for nearly three weeks, President-elect’s intelligence briefings were delayed after Trump challenged the November 3 election outcome. On the other hand, RushHourDaily reported that many close aides to Biden think that with no action from the incumbent, the President-elect would only be left with one option: bluster.
While talking to a local news channel, Joe Biden vowed to hold the culprits accountable and said that he would impose financial sanctions on individuals as well as entities. With Moscow categorically denying any involvement in the attacks, political experts suggest the issue to be a first big challenge for the incoming administration. Meanwhile, a top cybersecurity expert suggested that the hackers likely left a code that would allow them to counter any retaliation from the American side, and it will take months to detect and eliminate those codes.
