President Barack Obama just announced a series of actions against the Russian government in response to the cyberattack on the American election.
At last.
On December 15, the President said this:
“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections … we need to take action. And we will — at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be.“
As usual, our President reacted calmly, with deliberate thought and careful planning. Unlike his successor, President Obama has never been pushed to react impulsively when provoked.
Today the outgoing President used his executive authority to impose sanctions on two of Russia’s main intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSU. These are the two security agencies that are believed to be behind the hacking into the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
The sanctions include an array of economic sanctions on the country of Russia, intended to put pressure on the economy and influence President Putin.
In addition, Obama has ordered the closing of two compounds, one in New York and one in Maryland, that are said to house Russian intelligence agents. The administration is also expelling 35 Russian diplomats as part of the sanctions package.
The President made it clear that there will also be some type of covert action against the Russians for the cyberattack. He said:
“These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities. We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized.”
In other words, the President of the United States of America will not be tweeting at three in the morning to complain about cybersecurity. He will not be sending out a tweet that explains what he plans to do to punish Russia for violating international law and interfering in our Presidential election.
Generally when one country imposes economic and diplomatic sanctions on another, there is some form of retaliation.
We will have to wait and to if Putin reacts to the President’s actions. He may just wait until his puppet is sitting in the Oval Office, at which point all sanctions will no doubt be lifted and Vladimir will once again be in charge.
Featured image by Marc Nozell via Flickr. (CC BY 2.0).
