Letter to the Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury - Toomey and Van Hollen to Treasury: Sanction the Indicted Russian Military Officers

Letter

Dear Mr. Secretary:

We write to urge the Treasury Department to swiftly impose sanctions on the 12 Russian military intelligence officers recently indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for their involvement in cyber operations to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

On July 13, 2018, the DOJ indicted officers in the Russian military intelligence agency known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU). The charges relate to their role in hacking the computers of Americans involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, stealing their information, and distributing it online with the intent to meddle in the election. As previously demonstrated by your office, the Treasury Department has the legal authority necessary to impose sanctions on individuals who engage in cyber activities intended to interfere in America's elections.

On March 15, 2018, for example, the Treasury Department utilized two separate authorities to sanction Russians involved in nefarious cyber-related activities. The first, Executive Order (E.O.) 13694-entitled "Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities"-targets foreigners who conduct cyber activities that threaten our national security and compromise American computer networks. The Treasury Department invoked this E.O. to sanction 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups that the DOJ indicted in February 2018 for interfering in the 2016 elections.

The second, Section 224 of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), requires sanctions to be imposed on whomever the President determines "knowingly engages in significant activities undermining cybersecurity against any person, including a democratic institution, or government on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation." We are encouraged that the Treasury Department, in its March 15, 2018 sanctions' announcement, utilized this section of CAATSA to sanction Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the GRU, and six GRU officials.

The authorities provided by E.O 13694 and CAATSA are broad and enable the Treasury Department to apply sanctions on any foreigners linked to nefarious cyber activities designed to harm our electoral systems. Certainly, the 12 indicted GRU officials meet this definition. It is critical that the United States employ a comprehensive approach to confront and counter Russia's malign behavior towards the United States, especially in order to defend the integrity of our elections. We therefore urge you to sanction the 12 GRU officials recently indicted by the DOJ as soon as possible.

We thank you for considering our concerns. We look forward to working with the Administration to forcefully counter Russian aggression.

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