US arsenal to counter hack faces limitations

Washington

OVER the past four months, US intelligence agencies and aides to President Barack Obama assembled a menu of options to respond to Russia's hacking during the election, ranging from the obvious - exposing President Vladimir Putin's financial ties to oligarchs - to the innovative, including manipulating the computer code that Russia uses in designing its cyberweapons.

But while Mr Obama vowed on Friday to "send a clear message to Russia" as both punishment and deterrent, some of the options were rejected as ineffective, others as too risky. If the choices had been better, one of the aides involved in the debate noted recently, the president would have acted by now.