'The United States is under attack': Intelligence chief Dan Coats says Putin targeting 2018 elections

WASHINGTON – The nation's top intelligence officials said Tuesday that Russia is targeting the 2018 elections as it seeks to undermine America's political process and sow partisan division with cyber attacks and other digital disruption.

"Frankly, the United States is under attack," Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee, adding that Russia is attempting to "degrade our democratic values and weaken our alliances."

In unequivocal language, Coats said Russian President Vladimir Putin was emboldened by Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential elections and is targeting the midterms. 

"There should be no doubt that (Putin) views the past effort as successful," said Coats who was joined Tuesday by the nation's other top intelligence officials, including CIA Director Mike Pompeo, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The national intelligence director's comments came against the backdrop of congressional and criminal investigations into Russia's alleged interference in the presidential election and whether the Kremlin coordinated its activities with Donald Trump's campaign.

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Tuesday, Coats and the officials each affirmed a 2016 assessment of the entire intelligence community that concluded that Russia interfered in the election and has not relented in a strategy to undermine elections.

"This is not going to change or stop," Rogers said.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate panel, which is in the midst of Congress' most far-reaching inquiry into Russia's activities, said the country remains vulnerable more than a year later.

"We still don't have a comprehensive plan," Warner said, referring to a strategy to guard the nation's political process from intrusions. "We're no better prepared than we were in 2016.

"This threat, I believe, demands a whole-of-government response," he said. 

Coats said Russia's cyber program is a favored asset for the Kremlin because it is "cheap" and has been effective in "sowing division."

When asked whether Trump has directed efforts to counter the Russia threat, some of the intelligence chiefs demurred.

Coats said the White House was receiving all relevant information needed to direct strategy.

Committee chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the panel was near completion of its Russia inquiry and hoped to make public some findings before this year's midterm voting.

As a separate House Intelligence Committee inquiry devolved into bitter partisan in-fighting, Burr underscored a commitment to bipartisan cooperation.

"The effort to be bipartisan is not only public, but it's private," Burr said.

In addition to Russia, the officials were questioned about a multitude of potential threats confronting the United States, including North Korea's long-range missile campaign. 

Coats said North Korea's engagement with South Korea during the Winter Olympic Games, in which dictator Kim Jong Un's sister attended opening ceremonies in Pyeongchang on Friday, should not be interpreted as a step back from North Korea's focus on weapons development.

The intelligence director expected North Korea to "press ahead" with its testing of long-range missiles and threats to strike the USA and its allies in the region.

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