Obama administration mulls covert cyber action against Kremlin

The Obama administration is contemplating an unprecedented cyber covert action against Russia in retaliation for alleged Russian interference in the American presidential election, US intelligence officials told NBC News. Insider sources say the CIA has been asked to deliver options to the White House for a wide-ranging "clandestine" cyber operation designed to harass and "embarrass" the Kremlin leadership.

This comes in the wake of the Hillary Clinton staff’s insistence that the Kremlin is behind the shower of releases by WikiLeaks in the past 10 days of damaging and embarrassing emails dating to her service as Secretary of State and her current campaign for US president. They claim that Putin is actively backing her Republican rival, Donald Trump. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the charge, challenging Washington to produce evidence.