Trump’s national security strategy calls out Russia for ‘offensive cyber efforts’

President Trump’s formal national security strategy calls out Russia for waging “offensive cyber efforts to influence public opinion” in other countries, an apparent reference to Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

The administration released the 55-page document Monday afternoon, shortly before Trump delivered remarks on the strategy in Washington. 

“Russia uses information operations as part of its offensive cyber efforts to influence public opinion across the globe,” the document states. “Its influence campaigns blend covert intelligence operations and false online personas with state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or ‘trolls.’”

{mosads}The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia sought to interfere in the election through cyberattacks and disinformation. Moscow’s aim, according to U.S. officials, was to undermine democracy, damage Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help Trump. 

Trump has at times appeared to cast doubt on the intelligence community’s assessment, as special counsel Robert Mueller pursues an investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Moscow.

While the national security document does not mention Russian election meddling specifically, it appears to reference Russia’s efforts at several points. 

The document also highlights Russia’s attempts to “interfere” in the domestic political affairs of other countries and “undermine the legitimacy of democracies.” 

Trump unveiled his “America First” national security strategy during remarks at the Ronald Reagan Building later on Monday. 

He made little mention of cybersecurity during his speech, but said, “We will develop ways to counter those who use new domains such as cyber and social media to attack our nation or threaten our society.”

The national security document lays out the administration’s plan to defend national critical infrastructure and federal networks from cyberattacks, including by bolstering security of government systems, identifying and prioritizing risks to critical infrastructure, and imposing “swift and costly consequences” on actors who target the U.S. with cyberattacks. 

It says that the administration will ramp up efforts to attribute and respond to malicious state and non-state cyber actors, including by enhancing cyber tools “across the spectrum of conflict.”

“Malicious state and non-state actors use cyberattacks for extortion, information warfare, disinformation, and more,” the strategy states. “Such attacks have the capability to harm large numbers of people and institutions with comparatively minimal investment and a troubling degree of deniability. These attacks can undermine faith and confidence in democratic institutions and the global economic system.”

The strategy states that the Trump administration “will be risk informed, but not risk averse” when considering how to respond against malicious cyber actors.