Why did US go public with Iran hack claim? A lesson learnt from 2016 presidential election

While it was Russia in the 2016 presidential election, it’s Iran in 2014.

The US officials have confirmed that Iran hacked the Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign and, separately, the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign also said it was subjected to cyberattacks but the hackers could not get through.

Such announcements were a sharp departure from 2016 when Russia had carried out such attacks but officials remained quite about it. The issue became politicised and remained a political flashpoint for years as it was argued that the leakage of the then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails boosted Donald Trump’s chances.

The Associated Press has reported that the shift is a result of lessons learnt from the 2016 episode when officials tasked with protecting elections from foreign adversaries were criticised by some for holding onto sensitive information and were slammed for its politicisation.

Suzanne Spaulding, a former official with the Department of Homeland Security, told the AP that US agencies realise that releasing information can help thwart the efforts of US adversaries.

“This is certainly an example of that — getting out there quickly to say, ‘Look, this is what Iran’s trying to do. It’s an important way of building public resilience against this propaganda effort by Iran,’” said Spaulding, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The FBI along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said in a statement to AP that “transparency is one of the most powerful tools we have to counteract foreign malign influence operations intended to undermine our elections and democratic institutions”.

The FBI said the government had refined its policies to ensure that information is shared as it becomes available “so the American people can better understand this threat, recognise the tactics, and protect their vote”.

The ODNI told AP that the US government’s response to such attacks has now changed. The new assessment arose from a process for notifying the public about election threats that brings together representatives from several intelligence and national security agencies.

“The Intelligence Community has been focused on collecting and analyzing intelligence regarding foreign malign influence activities, to include those of Iran, targeting U.S. elections. For this notification, the IC had relevant intelligence that prompted a nomination,” said ODNI.

Even as the Iranian attacks this time appear to have been foiled, the threat is still looming. Sen. Mark Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, even though he is pleased with the government’s work lately, he is concerned that the greatest threat is still ahead of them.

“The bad guys are not going to do most of this until October. So we have to be vigilant," said Warner.