What have you learned about the u. S. Linking the attack directly to north korea . Because as you know, the north korean government has flatly denied it was responsible and praised all the criticism of the film, but it doesnt it insists it had nothing to do with the hacking . Youre right. The north korean government has denied involvement but we know from sources in early december there was a growing confidence in the u. S. Government that north korea was responsible for the hack attack at sony and there were a few reasons why. Not only just the motivation because of the movie, but because of the m. O. It was similar to a cyber attack against south korean banks last year as one source said, the techniques, the tactics and procedures were out of the north korean playbook. The coding was written in korean. A growing sense in early december but cyber investigations take a long time. This is extraordinary that were at a point where the u. S. Government is, were being told by sources, about to announce atrybution to north korea. As we speak there is language being circulated in the u. S. Government on how the u. S. Is going to come out and handle this, how its going to announce it. As we know the big challenge is, what do you do once you points the finger . How do you condemn north korea for this. We know from sources the government is considering a few options, one of which is bringing sanctions against north korea. Im told that because its still so early on in the investigation theres not enough specificity to bring charges against individuals. That could come down the road. Wolf . Pamela brown, stand by. North koreas capability to launch Cyber Attacks more of a threat than its nuclear program. The assessment from a north Korean Defector who once worked as a computer expert for pyongyang. What about what can the u. S. Do about all of this . What should the u. S. Do . Joining us now, Bill Richardson, the former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, former governor of new mexico, joining us live from madrid. In washington, jim sciutto and david, the editor of Foreign Policy magazine, author of the book National InsecurityAmerican Leadership in an age of fear. Appropriately titled. Ambassador richardson, let me start with you. Youve dealt directly with the north korean government. Are you convinced that north korea is directly responsible for this cyber attack on Sony Pictures . Well, im not totally convinced, although im not disputing the administrations findings. I think the level of sophistication of this cyber attack does surprise me, whether the North Koreans have it. You know, when i was in north korea last two years ago with eric schmidt of google and we were talking about bringing the internet there, the North Koreans did not seem very sophisticated in that arena. Nonetheless, this is very serious. This is if north korea has this capability against a Major American Corporation would they have it against the american government. The sophistication surprises me. Hold on a second. Theyre talking about this at the white house right now. Heres josh earnest. I can tell you that consistent with the president s previous statements about how we will protect against, monitor and respond to cyber incidents, this is something thats being treated as a Serious National Security matter. There is evidence to indicate that we have seen destructive activity with malicious intent initiated by a sophisticated actor and it is being treated by those investigative agencies both at the fbi and department of justice as seriously as you would expect. It is also the subject of a number of daily meetings convened here at the white house that have been led by both the president s Homeland Security adviser and occasionally by his cyber coordinator, that includes senior members of our Intelligence Community and security officials, of military, diplomatic and Law Enforcement officials as well. What is the United States going to do about it . Before we start to publicly speculating about a response, its appropriate that we allow the investigation to move forward. I do understand that the investigation is progressing, and that as the members of the National Security team meet to discuss this matter, they are considering a range of options. As they do so, though, theyre mindful of the need for a couple things. First of all, as we would be in any scenario, strategic scenario like this, they would be mindful of the fact that we need a proportional response, and also mindful of the fact that sophisticated actors when they carry out actions like this, are often times, not always, but often, seeming to provoke a response from the United States of america. They may believe that a response from us in one fashion or another, would be advantageous to them and so we want to be mindful of that too and the president s National Security team is mindful of those two important strategic considerations, as they consider a range of available responses. A big debate over sony canceling the interview. Whats the president said or expressed an opinion about a movie that depicts the assassination of a sitting head of state . I havent talked to him about that. What i can say is as a general matter, the president and the administration stand squarely on the side of artists and other private citizens who seek to freely express their views. Sometimes those views can be laced with criticism or are sometimes intended to provoke some kind of comedic response or one that is intended to be some element of some pretty biting social commentary. All of that is appropriate and well within the rights of private citizens to express their views. And the president has certainly been on the receiving end of some expressions like that and while we may not agree with the content of every single thing that is produced we certainly stand squarely on the side of the right of private individual s to express themselves and that is a view that is strongly held by this administration as it has been throughout the history of our country. Quickly on one other matter, the eu announced some a ban on businesses doing investments in cry meimea, can you give us update on the president s plan to sign the bill . Let me first begin with the russia sanctions bill as it relates to the ukraine, the president does intend to sign hr58 and 59 into law. Signing the legislation does not, however, signal a change in the administrations sanctions policy which we have carefully calibrated in accordance with developments on the ground and coordinated with our allies and principles in europe. We will continue to monitor the White House Briefing over there. Josh earnest the White House Press secretary changing, answering questions on ukraine and russia, sanctions. Well bring you up to speed on that. Eventually he will be speaking on day two of the dramatic announcement yesterday about an improvement in u. S. cuba relations and monitor that as well. You heard him say, no official announcement yet from the administration on who was responsible for the attack, the cyber attack, on Sony Pictures, although the fbi and Justice Department are wrapping up their investigation. We have reported here on cnn that u. S. Officials have concluded north korea is directly responsible for this hack attack, cyber attack, as its called and that an official announcement could come as early as today. Lets get some reaction to what we heard and i want to bring in jim sciutto our chief National Security correspondent and david rothcough and Bill Richardson with us, the former u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. The proportionate response that we heard josh earnest the White House Press secretary say, theyre gearing up for a response to what they say is a major actor, weve been reporting its north korea, they want to make sure whatever the United States does is proportionate. What does that mean . They have a range of options. We can look at the way they responded to china as one model what they might do with north korea. China guilty of multiple Cyber Attacks on u. S. Corporations and institutions. Naming and shaming. Theres a long history of Cyber Attacks they thought about it carefully and president obama did it with president xi at the sony land summit. It appears theyre closed to doing that based on the information we have. Another possibility if you get the specificity of the particular actors, the specific actors behind it, you can take the step that the u. S. Took with china which is identify individuals in china at this military unit in shanghai, individuals, put out charges against them. Never going to bring them to court but put out charges against them. Thats a step they could reach and that has some weight as well, particularly with this regime. Likely in the near term is when you think proportional this had an Economic Cost on a major u. S. Studio to the tunes of tens of millions of dollars. The film cost i think 45 million to make. Think of economic sanctions and on that list of things to do is going after north koreas access to dollar denominated trade. Thats the tactic that worked with iran regarding its nuclear program, its worked with russia to some degree regarding their activity in ukraine. You could as a quote unquote Nuclear Option cut off all action to dollar denominated trade, hit them in the gut, conceivably collapse the state, and punish chinese banks that do the business for them. Many steps short of that where you squeeze it like with russia. Those are the things on the table. The white house is not there on making a decision. Youve studied this subject. What do you think . I think they dont know what to do. Its interesting, juxtaposition between the cuba story and this one. The cuba story is closing the last page in the playbook of the cold war. This is opening the first page in the playbook in the cyber era. You heard josh earnings talk a moment ago about protecting against, monitoring and responding to these attacks. We didnt protect against it. Were clearly monitoring it. We dont know what to do in terms of responding. Jims comments about sanctions. This is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world. Theres little we can do to make an economic difference and were afraid of taking steps that are direct response on the cyber side because they will escalate almost inevitably and get us into potentially a kind of aer permanent Cyber Exchange with the North Koreans. I was going to say, Administration Officials say people have this impression north korea has been sanctioned to the point they can do it no longer but they make the point when you talk about dollar denominated trade, how the country survives, there are many more steps they can take to squeeze and turn the tap on them. I would say one thing, though, its very important that United States do does respond. You cant have kim jongun censoring u. S. Movies. You cant have north korea or others think they can reach in with a cyber hand and all of a sudden shut down artistic freedom or freedom of expression in the United States without the United States doing something to protect. All right. I want you to stand by. Bill richardson, standing by as well. Just ahead, were going to take a closer look at the north korean army of cyber terrorists as theyre now being called working out of a secret bureau and what one north Korean Defector says about its frightening capability. And later, we go inside the secret meetings that led to a landmark deal between the United States and cuba and the release of the jailed American Contractor alan gross. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. I love it. And mama loves you. Andno question about that. 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Analysts say the country has spent its scarce resources trying to build up this unit to carry out these kind of attacks. Heres cnn. Reporter north korean soldiers a techni color parading force against the west. On staterun television, a near ridiculous bravado of the military. But there are unseen soldiers in kim jonguns cyber war versus the west. They have no face and only known by a number bureau 121. Spoo what is bureau 121 . They conduct Cyber Attacks. Says jang seyul. He is a former pyongyang military Computer Systems worker now in south korea independently attempting to crumble an Agency Nearly impossible to chase. Bureau 121, a Shadow Agency with an unknown number of the regimes handpicked shadow agents placed in countries around the world, jang believes there are approximately 1800 of them, though he says the agents themselves dont know how many exist. We cant verify jangs claims about the shadow group but he says hes obtained from a current operative hundreds of financial files hacked from south korean banks complete with names and other bank account details. Is the cyber war the real war for north korea . Raising cyber agents is cheap, he says the. The world has the wrong view of the north korean state. That incorrect world view, north korea was able to increase its ability to launch Cyber Attacks. South korea learned the hard way. Banks across the country were paralyzed, atms frozen for days, Media Outlets dark, servers jammed or wiped. North korea denied it was the source of the hack but in the wake of the attack, south korea beefed up its own cyber forces declaring the online war as dangerous as pyongyangs nuclear ambitions. North korea exists in the land of over the top propaganda while experts say it age wages its parallel war in cyberspace led by a young man of the internet stage, ushering in a new phase of the korean conflict. Cnn, seoul. Amazing stuff. Lets continue the conversation with the former u. S. Ambassador of the United NationsBill Richardson. Joining us, david rothcough, editor of Foreign Policy magazine and chief correspondent jim sciutto. Governor richardson, i know youve been there several times to north korea. Let me play a little clip. This is josh earnest the White House Press secretary only moments ago, speaking about what this means, the cyber attack, that cnn is reporting the u. S. Government believes north korea being responsible for it. What it means as far as the u. S. Is concerned. Listen to this. Back on north korea. Youre calling it a National Security matter. Does that mean you dont skr it a National Security threat . In other words, there might be other attacks coming . We have seen let me actually step back and say, i know you refer to it as the north korea matter, thats the way its been widely reported. Im not in the position to confirming any atrybution at this point. As a general matter the president does view some of the attacks that we have seen in recent years, as a threat to our National Security and there is there has been an effort under way throughout the president s first six years in office to do what he can do, again, using his executive authority, to try to better prepare