>But intelligence officials have cautioned that they are uncertain whether the electronic break-in at the committee’s computer systems was intended as fairly ro

>But intelligence officials have cautioned that they are uncertain whether the electronic break-in at the committee’s computer systems was intended as fairly routine cyberespionage — of the kind the United States also conducts around the world — or as part of an effort to manipulate the 2016 presidential election. Does this bother anyone else? I appreciate that the NYTimes is willing to print an admission that the US also plays rough in cyberspace, but only probably because public awareness of this already exists. It appears as an attempt to setup the possibility that this hack was not "fairly routine cyberespionage which the US also does" which is apparently OK, according to the NYTimes, but as possibly some other type of malicious hacking. So what they're saying is: Nation state hacking is OK, as long as it abides by some untold, arbitrary guidelines, but we're not sure yet as journalists yet how to spin this any further.