Russia is a Bigger Cyber Spying Threat Than China, DNI James Clapper

Siobhan Gorman

Wall Street Journal

October 17, 2014

Intel Chief: Russia Tops China as Cyber Threat

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 29, 2014. (AP File Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas–The top U.S. spy sounded alarms about America’s lack of preparedness to combat a growing threat from cyberattacks and said that Russia poses a greater cyberspying threat than China.

“I worry a lot more about the Russians,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said at University of Texas intelligence forum in Austin Thursday.

His comments followed a major infiltration of J.P. Morgan JPM +2.03%’s computer networks, which officials believe was carried to by Russian hackers, though their connection to the government, if any, remains unclear.

U.S. efforts to retaliate against cyberattacks have been primarily directed at China, suggesting a potential mismatch between the threat and the U.S. response. Mr. Clapper said the Russians are more stealthy and the Chinese don’t cover their tracks as carefully.

“We’re not configured as a government and as a nation” to combat cyber threats, Mr. Clapper said.

For roughly three years, the Obama administration has been slowly ratcheting up the pressure on China to stop infiltrating U.S. computer networks, which Washington alleges is aimed at stealing corporate and military secrets. Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued indictments against alleged Chinese military hackers for industrial espionage and trade secret theft.

In wide-ranging remarks, Mr. Clapper also weighed in on the leaks of National Security Agency documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, saying that the U.S. has mitigated damage to relations with allies over charges that NSA was snooping on them, such as the case of NSA’s intercepting the cell phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“For the most part, we’ve repaired that damage,” he said. “They acknowledge that they need and depend” on the U.S. for intelligence sharing.

He also said that has the NSA’s program that collects U.S. phone records been explained publicly before it was leaked, it would not have been controversial. He compared that program to the millions of finger prints the Federal Bureau investigation holds on innocent Americans.

Moving on to Syria, he acknowledged that intelligence collection is very difficult. “The intelligence challenge in Syria is quite profound, because we’re not there on the ground,” he said.