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<\/a>\nHouse Speaker Paul Ryan said that President Barack Obama\u2019s actions against Russia should have come much sooner. (Photos: Pablo Martinez Monsivais\/AP; Susan Walsh\/AP)<\/h5>\n
\nHouse Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., thinks the Obama administration was justified in retaliating Thursday against Russia with sanctions for interfering with U.S. institutions. But he said it should\u2019ve been done long ago.<\/p>\n
Far from a full-throated endorsement of Obama\u2019s actions, Ryan\u2019s statement condemned the commander in chief for eight years of what he considers \u201cineffective foreign policy\u201d that left the United States more vulnerable than it was when he took office in 2009. Nevertheless, Ryan agreed that Russia is a threat to global security.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia does not share America\u2019s interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world,\u201d Ryan said shortly after the White House announced the punishments. \u201cWhile today\u2019s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia. And it serves as a prime example of this administration\u2019s ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan\u2019s evenhanded statement is notable because President-elect Donald Trump, with whom he has had a rocky relationship, has repeatedly dismissed the U.S. intelligence community\u2019s assessment that the Kremlin interfered in the November election. The U.S. says Russian hackers were behind the cyberattacks that led to massive email leaks from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign chairman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we ought to get on with our lives. I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole, you know, age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what\u2019s going on,\u201d Trump said Wednesday<\/a> of the U.S. allegations against Russia.<\/p>\n Sen. John McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham, both prominent Republicans, released a joint statement on Obama\u2019s announcement that echoed Ryan\u2019s language, but they did not use the moment as an opportunity to attack the administration as harshly as Ryan had.<\/p>\n \u201cThe retaliatory measures announced by the Obama administration today are long overdue,\u201d they wrote. \u201cBut ultimately, they are a small price for Russia to pay for its brazen attack on American democracy. We intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n Obama said the Russian government had been warned multiple times in private and in public to stop violating international norms in its pursuit of harming American interests.<\/p>\n \u201cAll Americans should be alarmed by Russia\u2019s actions. In October, my administration publicized our assessment that Russia took actions intended to interfere with the U.S. election process,\u201d Obama said. \u201cThese data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government. Moreover, our diplomats have experienced an unacceptable level of harassment in Moscow by Russian security services and police over the last year. Such activities have consequences. Today, I have ordered a number of actions in response.\u201d<\/p>\n Obama issued an executive order that provides \u201cadditional authority\u201d for responding to \u201ccyber activity\u201d that aims to disrupt the elections of institutions of the U.S. or its allies. With this new authority, Obama continued, he placed sanctions against nine different Russian institutions and individuals. These include two Russian intelligence services (the GRU and the FSB), four officers with the GRU and three companies that provided support for the GRU.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Obama said, the treasury secretary is \u201cdesignating\u201d two Russians for misappropriating funds and personal identity information through \u201ccyber-enabled means\u201d and the State Department is shutting down Russian compounds in New York and Maryland.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will release declassified technical information on Russian military and civilian cyber activity to help \u201cnetwork defenders\u201d detect and disrupt a \u201cglobal campaign of malicious cyber activities\u201d from Russia, according to the White House.<\/p>\n According to Obama, these are not all the actions that the U.S. will take to hold Russia accountable for interfering with democratic governance \u2014 some will not be publicized.<\/p>\n \u201cTo that end, my administration will be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russia\u2019s efforts to interfere in our election, as well as malicious cyber activity related to our election cycle in previous elections,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n Russia, which denies the hacking allegations, had previously vowed to respond to U.S. actions. According to Reuters<\/a>, the Kremlin said Obama\u2019s Thursday announcement hurt the already strained ties between the two countries.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear if Trump, who has repeatedly heaped praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin, will seek to soften or reverse Obama\u2019s executive order once he takes office on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n