The key to Putin’s cyber power

Friedman: What do you mean by resilience?

McFaul: To make it harder for them to do these things in the future. To build up our defenses—not just deterring offense, but to actually have the ability to protect U.S. government officials.

I think most people would be shocked at the tremendous capacity that the Russians have with respect to all things cyber in America: government, business, personal.

Friedman: Do you think they’re the number one cyber power in the world right now?

McFaul: Well, we’re number one. But in terms of capability, they most certainly are extremely capable. And the thing that Putin has that other countries don’t have is he’s got the intention, too. He’s not afraid to use this stuff in the ways that he has. It would be unthinkable, from my perspective at least, for the Obama administration to steal Russian data and then use it in a way to manipulate an electoral process in Russia. [Obama] just would never do that. [Putin] has proven that he has both the capability and the will to do things like that. And not just against the United States, but against lots of countries.