New reports of more Russian cyber hacking remind us that the Cold War, although decades old, has some cools wind blowing — at us. Each day brings another revelation about Moscow’s propensity to hack us and use sophisticated cyber and communications tools to cause havoc.
{mosads}Now is the time for a major presidential address to call out Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow and say: enough. And it is time for a serious investment in U.S. intelligence and military capabilities to thwart more Russian advances.
America is in the eye of a Russian storm, which is expanding technological prowess to destabilize regions and disrupt life in the West.
Following the annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea, the Russians doubled down on areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, cyber offensives and propaganda efforts to reassert themselves on the global scene.
From the alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committee to reports of tampering with state electoral databases, the Russians are forcing our hand on a number of fronts.
Concerned with an aging population and diminished economic power, Moscow is working hard to catch up with American technological prowess and the entrepreneurship of Silicon Valley. The high-tech warfare capabilities and intrusions into corporate and nongovernmental systems is clearly on display as a rapidly modernizing Russian military invests in aerial systems and communications that threaten global peace and security.
President Obama has resisted the temptation to throw Russia under the bus, for reasons of diplomacy and shared interests in places like Syria. But the window of the administration is closing and it is time to blast out the message that Western democracies will not allow themselves to be penetrated and challenged by Russian incursions in cyber or traditional battlefields.
At the same time, our military and intelligence community needs the best and the brightest and the infusion of dollars to stay ahead of Red Square.
None of us want to be hysterical about Russia or sound alarm bells. But it is time to call out bad behavior and stay on the offensive.
Sonenshine is a Russia expert. She is based at George Washington University.
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