Without citing concrete evidence, Clapper claimed that Russian hackers attack "not just government but also corporate and personal systems."
US officials have blamed Russia for cyber-attacks in the wake of several DNC and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) breaches. Earlier in July, WikiLeaks released multiple hacked DNC emails detailing an organized sabotage of Bernie Sanders' bid for the White House, which led to the ouster of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Clapper, however, rejected directly accusing the Kremlin, but cited US President Barack Obama's recent statement that "experts have attributed this to the Russians." Clapper suggested that the Chinese are constantly attempting to breach US networks as well.
The DNC officially states that Russia is attempting to tilt the election in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview last week at the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, stated once again that Moscow is not involved.
Putin also recently told Bloomberg, "in order to influence the course of the US elections, it's necessary to have your finger on the pulse, and to get the specifics of domestic political life in the US. I'm not sure that even our foreign ministry experts are sensitive enough to it."
Acknowledging the media firestorm of fear regarding Russian, and any other, intelligence actors purportedly compromising the American voting process, Clapper remarked that the upcoming presidential election "will be OK."
