Self-Delusion on the Russia Hack

As the news about Russia's broad digital espionage operation against the U.S. Defense, Treasury, and Commerce Departments, nuclear laboratories, and other governmental systems grows more ominous, prominent voices are calling for a vigorous response.

"[A]ll elements of national power," including military power, "must be placed on the table," proclaimed Thomas Bossert, the former senior cybersecurity adviser in the Trump administration, in a New York Times op-ed. The United States must "reserve [its] right to unilateral self-defense," and "allies must be rallied to the cause" since such coalitions will be "important to punishing Russia and navigating this crisis without uncontrolled escalation." Sen. Richard Durbin had a similar but pithier assessment: "This is virtually a declaration of war by Russia on the United States."