WASHINGTON--Lieutenant General Paul Nakasone, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Cyber Command, said on Thursday he did not think Russia, China and other countries expected much of a response from the United States to cyber attacks.
"They don't think much will happen," Nakasone said when questioned by Republican Senator Dan Sullivan at his confirmation hearing to be director of the National Security Agency and commander of the military's U.S. Cyber Command.
"We seem to be the cyber punching bag of the world," Sullivan said during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Nakasone's hearing came two days after his retiring predecessor, Admiral Mike Rogers, told the same panel that Trump had not granted him the authority to disrupt Russian election-hacking operations.
Nakasone, who served as chief of the U.S. Army's Cyber Command since late 2016, said responsibility for developing a "whole of government" response to cyber attacks lay with the Trump administration, although he would present the Republican president with options.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign using hacking and propaganda, an effort that eventually included attempting to tilt the election in Trump's favor. Russia denies interfering. U.S. intelligence leaders more recently have warned that Moscow is trying to disrupt this year's midterm elections, with Trump's fellow Republicans seeking to retain control of Congress.
When questioned by another Republican, Senator Ben Sasse, Nakasone said he did not think countries behind cyber attacks had seen enough of a U.S. response to deter them.
