Why Target the DNC?

By Michael Sulick

Michael Sulick is the former director of CIA’s National Clandestine Service and is currently a consultant on counterintelligence and global risk assessment.  Sulick also served as Chief of Counterintelligence and Chief of the Central Eurasia Division where he was responsible for intelligence collection operations and foreign liaison relationships in Russia, Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union.  He is the author of Spying in America: Espionage From the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War and American Spies: Espionage Against the United States from the Cold War to the Present

The breach of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) by hackers believed to be affiliated with the Russian government is raising concerns about foreign interference in the coming election. The Cipher Brief spoke to Michael Sulick, former Director of the National Clandestine Service at the CIA, about why the Russians would target the DNC and what might happen next. According to him, the Russian intelligence agencies involved in the hack were likely looking for recruitable sources, and people involved in the DNC may want to increase their own cybersecurity in the near term.

The Cipher Brief: What are the likely motivations for and implications of the DNC being hacked by Russia’s intelligence apparatus?

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