When the Russian government hacked into Hillary Clinton's campaign emails and leaked them to the press in 2016, intelligence officials agonized for weeks about the correct response. Faced with a similar hacking campaign this election year, they acted much more swiftly, publicly blaming Iran for attempts to hack into the presidential campaigns of both major parties. Intelligence officials and observers say the different response reflects lessons learned since 2016 as well as new agencies created to defend elections against foreign threats. Suzanne Spaulding is a former official with the Department of Homeland Security, and she says security agencies realized that releasing information can help thwart the efforts of U.S. adversaries.
