Russia 'full-scope cyber actor', say US intelligence chiefs

Russia is a "full-scope cyber actor" that poses a major threat to America's government and its critical infrastructure, US spy chiefs said.

The claims were made by director of national intelligence James Clapper, undersecretary of defence for intelligence Marcel Lettre, and Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency.

The three officials have been appearing before the senate armed services committee which is looking into the cyber threat from Russia and other countries.

US intelligence agencies claim Moscow interfered in this year's presidential election to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The three spy chiefs believe Moscow's top leadership was behind the hacking and leaking of Democratic Party documents in the campaign aimed at swaying the result.

They said: "We assess that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorised the recent election-focused data thefts and disclosures" and Moscow has a "highly-advanced offensive cyber programme".

Mr Clapper claimed Russia has a "long history" of interfering in elections going back to the 1960s but never as "aggressive" and "direct" as this time. 

Committee chairman Senator John McCain said "every American should be alarmed" by Russia's meddling.

But he said the committee's probe did not intend to question the result of November's election.

The alleged hacking led to new sanctions by President Barack Obama against Moscow and 35 Russian diplomats were expelled from the US.

Moscow has denied the hacking allegations and dismissed the sanctions as an attempt to "harm Russian-American ties."

A report on election meddling by Russia and other foreign countries has been delivered to Mr Obama, and his successor Mr Trump is reportedly due to be briefed on Friday.

The spy trio claim at least 30 nations are developing technology to launch cyber attacks against the US.

The White House race was unexpectedly won by billionaire businessman Mr Trump, amid claims Moscow helped to sway it by hacking into emails of the Democratic National Committee.

The President-elect has expressed scepticism that Russia was behind the hacking, and his spokesman has denied reports Mr Trump plans to restructure the spy agencies.

During the Washington hearing, Mr Clapper hit out at Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks organisation which is being investigated for leaking classified information.

The director of national intelligence said Mr Assange's work has put American lives at risk by publishing names.

He did not elaborate, while WikiLeaks accused him of lying to Congress.

Mr Clapper, Mr Lettre and Admiral Rogers also claim Beijing continues to run cyber-spying operations against the US, despite Chinese President Xi Jinping agreeing to halt them in 2015.