Gates: US Leaders Were ‘Laid Back' About Russia Hack

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that the Obama administration, congressional leaders and Donald Trump have all demonstrated a lack of urgency surrounding the recent election-related Russian hacking revelations, NBC News reported.

"I think that given the unprecedented nature of it and the magnitude of the effort, I think people seem to have been somewhat laid-back about it," Gates told NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press."

"And maybe part of the problem was that it took the intelligence community a while to assemble really firm evidence of Russian involvement and Russian government involvement that delayed a response," Gates, who also headed the CIA, added. "Attribution is a challenge, but it seems pretty clear to me that they've developed really reliable information that the Russian government was involved."

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