By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
While President Trump remains defiant in his refusal to condemn Russia for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, his attorney general Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday the formation of task force to combat global cyber threats, including those used to undermine elections.
The move comes a week after leaders of U.S. intelligence agencies warned Congress that Russians, emboldened by their success during the presidential election, are planning to interfere in the 2018 mid-term elections in November.
A memo signed by Sessions gives the Justice Department until the end of June to report on its findings, according to Reuters.
“The internet has given us amazing new tools that help us work, communicate, and participate in our economy, but these tools can also be exploited by criminals, terrorists, and enemy governments,” Sessions said in a statement.
The task force, which will include representatives from the Justice Department and FBI, has been criticized for its lack of a clear vision.
“This step basically takes a number of really complicated parallel issues in ‘hard’ cybersecurity and ‘soft’ information security and throws them into the same amorphous task force,” said Graham Brookie, a cyber security aide in the Obama administration who now works at the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council think tank.
