Intelligence Director Nominee Dan Coats Puts Cyber Threat at Top of List
President Trump's nominee to head up the intelligence community placed cyber threats at the top of his list of the most challenging issues facing the new administration.
Former Senator Dan Coats, the nominee for director of national intelligence, laid out the threats he sees, including: the rising cyber threat, the "threat of radical Islamic terrorism," China's "troubling regional activism," Russia's "assertiveness," and the threat from North Korea.
Speaking about Russia, Coats said that its "assertiveness in global affairs is something I look upon with great concern," adding that the U.S. needs to address it "with eyes wide open and a healthy degree of skepticism."
Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Coats also vowed to pursue an investigation into the possible Russian interference in the U.S. election, promising to hand over raw intelligence material that some lawmakers have requested.
Coats said that Russia tried to influence the election and seemed to "have stepped up their game" in the cyber world. He later acknowledged that he has not yet seen the classified assessment about any attempted hacking or Russian influence.
"This is something that needs to be investigated and addressed," he said.