Top US intel officials warn Russia’s war in Ukraine hasn’t lessened Kremlin’s desire to interfere in US elections

CNN —

Russia’s war in Ukraine has done little to dampen its desire to interfere in the upcoming 2024 election and sow discord in the United States, two of the top US intelligence officials said on Tuesday.

National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, seated alongside FBI Director Chris Wray at a New York conference, told an audience that Russia still has the bandwidth, despite its draining, two yearlong war in Ukraine, to meddle in the United States’ presidential election.

“This is an important year for them,” said Nakasone, who is also the commander of US Cyber Command. “They are looking at this [US election] and I would anticipate, with the challenge that they have in Ukraine, this is obviously where they want make an impact.”

Wray agreed, adding: “If anything, you could make the argument that their focus on Ukraine has increased their desire to focus on trying to shape what we [the US] look like and how we think about issues because US policy matters deeply to their utterly unprovoked and outrageous invasion of Ukraine.”

The “stars align” for Russia in terms of its efforts to both succeed militarily in Ukraine and carry out interference or influence operations in the US, Wray said.

Earlier Tuesday, a senior Justice Department cyber official argued that Russian security services’ focus on Ukraine has benefitted the US.

“All the [Russian] intelligence services that we investigate on a daily basis for activity targeting United States are now devoting time and attention to Ukraine for obvious reasons,” Sean Newell, who heads the department’s National Security Cyber Section, told CNN.

But Russian intelligence continues to look at how it can impact US government support for Ukraine, including