WaPo: U.S. Developing Options to Combat Russian Interference; U.S. Military on High Alert for North Korea Launch
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Now, the Pentagon is not confirming nor denying this report, essentially saying that, yes, Cyber Command does, in fact, help DHS and helps the FBI on operations, and also said that, quote: When authorized, it's taking action to disrupt or degrade malicious nation state cyber actors' ability to interfere in U.S. elections. So, yes, they are preventing outside actors from getting involved in U.S. elections, but not commenting on the specific nature of what "The Washington Post" has revealed in their reporting.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Perhaps not surprising, right, in terms -- not surprising in terms of the statement. But, Nina, as Kylie pointed out, this is something that they've been working on for some time. Just put it in perspective for us. How sophisticated would an operation like that be?</s>NINA JANKOWICZ, CYBERSECURITY EXPERT: Well, make no mistake, Erica. The United States is one of the foremost cyber operators in the world. I think this is not beyond our capability, nor is it particularly something we should be surprised that is in our tool kit. I think what's important to note is that the United States has been reticent to take steps like this because it's become so politicized the last couple of years. What's worrisome to me is that we're only taking these steps in relation to elections. You know, we took similar steps, shutting down the Internet Research Agency, the IRA out of St. Petersburg, that infamous troll factory in 2016 during the midterms. But these are operations that are going on all the time. And in fact, the infrastructure for them is seeded and developed in into our election period. So, for three years, we've been sitting around kind of twiddling our thumbs, taking very few steps. And now, just -- you know, within a year of the 2020 election, we're finally starting to get our game together.</s>HILL: Which doesn't instill a ton of confidence, it must be said. Kylie, as we look at this, would Vladimir Putin be a target?</s>ATWOOD: Well, according to the reporting from "The Post", that would be a little bit too provocative. He is not on the table for someone that they are considering targeting. Now, of course, things could change, given any intelligence that they're able to collect about meddling in the 2020 elections, which is something that U.S. intelligence officials have said that Russia wants to do.</s>HILL: And Anita, what would be the response, would you imagine, from Russia?</s>JANKOWICZ: I don't think this will change Russia's response in the slightest, because you know what, we've got a huge disparity in the messaging that's coming from the White House and actions like this, that our national security administration is taking in the United States. We've got President Trump wondering if Russian influence and information warfare is even a thing and on the other hand, we've got these responses coming from the Department of Defense. So, I don't think Russia is going to be convinced by the fact that we're taking this action.</s>HILL: Nina Jankowicz, Kylie Atwood, thank you both.</s>JANKOWICZ: Thank you.</s>HILL: American and South Korean troops are on high alert after North Korea threatened to deliver a Christmas gift -- a threat deemed serious enough the U.S. military is purportedly flying spy missions over the Korean peninsula. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Seoul, South Korea. And, Paula, I know sources tell the U.S. -- tell CNN rather, the U.S. is closely watching North Korea for a possible provocation. Has there been a hint of activity at this point and what would it even look like?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, U.S. officials are quite puzzled at this point as to why there hasn't been some kind of test from North Korea. The Trump administration officials widely anticipated and expected that this Christmas gift would be some kind of weapons test. Many officials and experts here in South Korea agreed with that. Now, we do understand that there are intelligence indicators that show that some weapons components have been moved. We know that there are open source satellite imagery showing that there has been activity, at two of the key sites when it comes to the missiles program in North Korea. Now, one source with knowledge of North Korean thinking says that they believe some provocative test, like a nuclear test to an ICBM launch over the Christmas period would be unlikely, but we are also expecting and hearing from U.S. officials that the window's not closed. They're expecting this window to be open through January, which is Kim Jong- un's birthday as well. And, of course, there is that year-end deadline that North Korea has given the U.S. also. Now, a U.S. official tells CNN that there have been some contingency plans put in place, that there have been some potential military show of force options, that could be executed quickly if there is provocative test by North Korea, a fly over of bombers over the peninsula, for example, or even a ground force military drill, a ground weapons military drill that could be executed. Of course, we don't know what the red line is or what that threshold is, though -- Erica.</s>HILL: Paula Hancocks live for us in Seoul -- thank you. The poll suggesting we could see a new record in the 2020 election. That's next.