James R. Clapper Quotes

I'm talking about the finding in October that is public now of 17 different intelligence agencies saying Russia tried to meddle with our elections.

I think that all of the cyber attacks that are taking place, but particularly this - the Russian one, had a profound impact on the American system, on our political process, on our - it invaded the space of our election. The releasing on a regular basis of one party's stolen emails had an impact, and I think that other things also had an impact.

We need to make it very clear - whether it's Russia, China, Iran or anybody else - the United States has much greater capacity. And we are not going to sit idly by and permit state actors to go after our information, our private-sector information or our public-sector information.

Take cyber-capabilities. We have way more cyber-capability than Russia do. We could intervene in their elections easily. We choose not to do so because we're a different country. That's what Obama was trying to say.

In terms of my conversations with [Vladimir] Putin, these are conversations that took place before the election. As I indicated, there has been very clear proof that they have engaged in cyber attacks. This isn't new. It's not unique to Russia. There are a number of states where we've seen low-level cyber attacks and industrial espionage and, you know, other behavior that we think should be out of bounds.

China and Russia are regarded as the most formidable cyber threats.

The problem with cyber weapons for a country like ours is the ability to control them.

Cyber security will be an issue that I will be absolutely focused on as president. Because whether it's Russia, or China, Iran or North Korea more and more countries are using hacking to steal our information, to use it to their advantage. And we can't let that go on.

I would like to repeat: I know absolutely nothing about [hacker's attacks], and Russia has never done anything like this at the State level.

The reality of today from a cyber security point of view - I think some of the top people predict that the next big war is fought on cyber security.

There are a number of countries that we see cyber-attacks emanating from. And, again, they can be just individuals who are located in the country. But three that I think are of special concern would be Iran, would be Russia, and China.

There's no doubt now that Russia has used cyber attacks against all kinds of organizations in America, and I am deeply concerned about this.

Look at what is happening in China and in Russia. They have units that are specifically targeted cyber warfare. They are carrying it out. Our critical infrastructure is attacked thousands of times a day.

Our enemies and our would-be enemies are working very hard at cyberterrorism... They're trying to level the playing field because they know they can't beat us tank for tank, plane for plane.

There are two kinds of people in America today: those who have experienced a foreign cyber attack and know it, and those who have experienced a foreign cyber attack and don't know it.

Cybersecurity is a new issue for the international community at large. First of all, the technologies are new and the attacks are invisible. Traditionally, if you perceived a threat, it could be seen. It was physical. But not in cyberspace.

I do agree that when it comes to cyber warfare, we have more to lose than any other nation on earth.

Americans cannot afford to turn a blind eye to Russian interference in our democracy. We need to get to the facts and learn lessons to prevent future misconduct by foreign governments.

Russia has conducted a coordinated cyberattack on state election systems and hacked critical infrastructure. They have used social media to sow chaos and discord in our society. They have beaten and harassed U.S. diplomats and violated anti-proliferation treaties.

The United States Cyber Command was created partly in response to a Russian hacking attack that long predated the 2016 election.

Cyberespionage and cyberattack is exploding from our adversaries inside our country. We don't seem capable of stopping it.

It's public knowledge that there have been efforts - as U.S. intelligence sources have said - by Russia to destabilize the U.S. political system. I think that Canadians and, indeed, other Western countries should be prepared for similar efforts to be directed at us.

All of our intelligence agencies, our Department of Defense, are all working to meet this threat. But it's a fast moving world; it's a place where offense is easier than defense, and keeping up with the next innovation in cyber-warfare is an enormous challenge.

Besides the conventional military threats, North Korean cyber capabilities are growing.

I have no doubt that Russia tried to meddle in our election. They're going to continue trying to - just like they have my entire lifetime.