For months, Russian hackers have been racing around inside systems at the highest levels of the U.S. government, exploiting a weakness in “SolarWinds” networking software that went completely unnoticed until it was pointed out by a third party. Those hacks have included intrusions into systems that contain critical information about the nation’s power grid, as well as those having stewardship over the nuclear stockpile. All the while, Donald Trump has refused to even mention Russia (outside of repeating lies about the Mueller investigation) and is even promising to veto a national defense spending bill that includes a program to fight Russian cyber warfare.
So when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted on Friday that Russia was behind the widespread hacks, it should not be news. After all, this has been in the news for over a week. It affects at least half a dozen federal agencies. And there is no doubt about the origin of the attacks.
But in the Trump White House, just getting an admission that Russia can do something wrong, is an effort.
As CNN reports, Pompeo let slip that Russia is at fault on the radio show of right wing talker Mark Levin. Pompeo also admitted that Russia did more than just read emails and make off with files. …