title:  Obama Probing Putin: Orders Review Of Russian Hacking, And He Wants It Done Before He Leaves Office
text: President Obama has ordered a  full review  of Russian involvement in the DNC hacking and interference in the U.S. presidential election, and he wants it on his desk before he leaves office.Lisa Monaco, Obama s counterterrorism and homeland-security adviser, told reporters that it is  incumbent upon us  to take a deeper look into the situation. We may have crossed into a new threshold, and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that, to review, to conduct some after-action, to understand what has happened and to impart some lessons learned,  she said.She added that Obama wants the report completed before Donald Trump takes over on Jan. 20.The intelligence community placed the blame for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic Party groups on Russia clear back in October. Emails obtained in the hack, some of which appeared to be damaging to Hillary Clinton, were placed on Wikileaks.A statement released by intelligence experts said the leaks were consistent  with Russian tactics. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,  the statement said.According to Monaco, Obama instructed the intelligence community to identify  lessons learned and report to a range of stakeholders,  including lawmakers.On Friday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that Trump s bromance with Putin has created an  added urgency. Given President-elect Trump s disturbing refusal to listen to our intelligence community and accept that the hacking was orchestrated by the Kremlin, there is an added urgency to the need for a thorough review before President Obama leaves office next month. Even Trump s own party is giving him the middle finger when it comes to Putin and announced on Friday that they are preparing to launch a wide-ranging probe into Russia s involvement with the DNC hack and their meddling in the presidential election.Featured image via Sean Gallup/Getty Images