The Chinese and the Russians have stolen some of America's biggest secrets. China grabbed much of our biggest weapons secrets and Russia made a point of humiliating our intel capabilities with Snowden. None of this really bothered Obama. But then then they began undermining Hillary and the Democrats. And now Obama is going to the featherweight silken sheet mattresses.
This means war! Proportional war!
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest promised on Tuesday that the U.S. would deliver a “proportional” response to Russia’s alleged hacking of American computer systems.
In addition to pledging that the U.S. “will ensure that our response is proportional,” Earnest told reporters flying on Air Force One that “it is unlikely that our response would be announced in advance.”
Except that he just announced it in advance.
But I'm sure the Russians will be glad to know that our response will be "proportional". So we'll hack into Putin's private email and release all his fan letters to Justin Bieber?
No one is intimidated by proportional responses. Certainly Putin won't be. When you threaten a proportional response, what you're really saying is that you have to do something because you've been badly hurt, but you're too afraid of escalating the conflict. That's as effective as shoveling snow with a spork.
"The president has talked before about the significant capabilities that the U.S. government has to both defend our systems in the United States but also carry out offensive operations in other countries,” he said as the press corps traveled with the president to a Hillary Clinton campaign event in North Carolina. "So there are a range of responses that are available to the president and he will consider a response that is proportional."
Perfect timing since this is about the Hillary campaign. And it's mostly about dissuading further Russian interference to hurt Hillary. Which means that it's doomed to fail.
After months of speculation to that end, President Barack Obama’s administration officially pointed the finger last week at Russia, blaming it for cyberattacks against political targets in the U.S. Most notably, cyberattacks earlier this summer exposed the inner workings of the Democratic National Committee by making public emails from former Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other top officials.
But wait... this gets even more hilarious.
On two previous occasions, the Obama administration has indicted alleged government-backed hackers for attacking the U.S. In 2014, the Justice Department charged five members of the Chinese military with the digital theft of trade secrets from American companies. And earlier this year, the DOJ indicted hackers tied to the Iranian regime for illegally accessed a small water dam in New York.
Law enforcement officials say they have not ruled out such an approach in the current spate of election hacks.
So Obama will indict Russian operatives not in our jurisdiction. That's certainly likely to induce proportional Russian laughter.