Rubio: "America Must Retaliate" Against Russian Espionage

Russia continues to make headlines after several hacking attempts, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R), the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, provided an update on social media regarding the nature of the espionage.

Taking to Twitter to comment on the attacks, the Florida lawmaker noted that “the full extent of the cyber hack is still unknown but we already know it is unprecedented in scale & scope, in all likelihood ongoing & at a level of sophistication only a few nation-states are capable of.”

Before the election on November 3^rd, Iran and Russia were both confronted over attempts to interfere in the election. Though both countries denied any involvement, government officials argued that they were the perpetrators.

Since then, Russia has also been accused of hacking three government agencies. Earlier this week, it was reported that the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, and the Department of Homeland Security had all been hacked, and this led to a massive response from lawmakers who continued to raise concerns over the technological threat that Russia poses on the United States.

On social media, Senator Rubio further commented that “the methods used to carry out the cyber hack are consistent with Russian cyber operations.” However, he expressed that “it’s crucial we have complete certainty about who is behind this,” adding that “we can’t afford to be wrong on attribution, because America must retaliate, and not just with sanctions.”

The ongoing Chinese and Russian espionage is very real.

Aside from Russia, Senator Rubio has also long-criticized the technological threat that China poses to the United States, and this has culminated in the Florida lawmaker being sanctioned by China. He has also penned an op-ed discussing why the United States should not continue to invest in China, writing that "it will result in American capital flowing to a regime that undermines our country." In turn, relations between both countries have become increasingly tense.