Whistleblower Edward Snowden has ridiculed Vice President Joe Biden’s announcement that the U.S. government will respond to alleged Russian hacks with “covert cyber strikes” of their own.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press this week, Biden took the unusual step of announcing a “covert CIA” cyberwar to the world. “At the time of our choosing, and under the circumstances that will have the greatest impact,” Washington will exact revenge against Moscow for its alleged hacks and interference in the US election.
The revelations about a supposedly covert operation – the kind that is conventionally kept secret – prompted the former NSA contractor to suggest that the top US official simply doesn’t understand how such things work. “I get the feeling nobody told VP Joe Biden what “covert operation” means,” Snowden tweeted.
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I get the feeling nobody told @VP Joe Biden what "covert operation" means. pic.twitter.com/q8N9MZndOk
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 15, 2016
This week, NBC News released a report suggesting that the CIA is planning a “clandestine” and “covert” cyberattack on Russia, to “embarrass” Putin and his government for their alleged efforts to influence the US elections against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The loud warnings about the supposedly secret and “wide-ranging operation” by the Obama administration, delivered via mainstream media, were also questioned by WikiLeaks.
If the US "clandestine" pending cyberwar on Russia was serious:
1) it would not have been announced
2) it would be the NSA and not the CIA— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 15, 2016
In response to the publicly announced secret operation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Russia will take “precautionary measures,” and added that it is worrying that such “unprecedented” threats are “being announced at the level of the US Vice President.”
