United States plans program to hit hackers

Washington: Barack Obama on Thursday said the United States would retaliate against Russian hacking after the White House accused Vladimir Putin of direct involvement in cyber attacks designed to influence the US election.

The outgoing US President’s remarks dramatically upped the stakes in a dispute between the world’s leading nuclear powers over interference that may have swayed last month’s tight election in which Republican billionaire Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action,” Mr Obama told NPR.

“And we will, at a time and place of our own choosing.”

Pointing the finger at the Russian president over meddling in the election also puts the White House on a collision course with Mr Trump, who has become increasingly isolated in questioning Russian involvement in hacks of Democratic Party emails that appeared to have slowed the momentum of Ms Clinton’s campaign.

“I don’t think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it,” one of his top advisers, Ben Rhodes, said earlier Thursday.

“Everything we know about how Russia operates and how Putin controls that government would suggest that, again, when you’re talking about a significant cyber intrusion like this, we’re talking about the highest levels of government,” he told MSNBC television.

“And ultimately, Vladimir Putin is the official responsible for the actions of the Russian government.”

Mr Trump caused outrage in July by suggesting that Russia find 30,000 missing emails related to Ms Clinton’s use of a private server when she was secretary of state. Surrogates dismissed it as a joke, but he repeated his call on Twitter.

Mr Trump, who blasted as “ridiculous” a reported CIA assessment that Russia was trying to help him win, has continued to question Russian involvement in hacks of damaging Democratic Party emails.

A Kremlin spokesman on Thursday rejected the allegations of Mr Putin’s involvement as “ridiculous nonsense.”

As for Mr Trump’s assertion that no one addressed the issue before the election, Mr Obama has repeatedly said both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee were apprised of the Russian threat well before November 8.