REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
The National Security Agency was able to determine that Russia hacked the emails of a Russian-American investigative journalist prior to her 2006 murder in Moscow, according to top-secret documents revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Anna Politkovskaya was a prominent critic of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin before she was gunned down by five men inside her apartment in what appeared to be a contract killing—although it is unclear who exactly ordered the attack. The new Snowden documents indicate the U.S. spy agency was able to determine as early as December 2005 whether Russian government agents were conducting cyberattacks. The finding could shed light on how U.S. intelligence agencies could be able to determine conclusively whether the Kremlin was resonsible for hacking Democratic Party institutions and individuals earlier this year. Since the election, reports have suggested that U.S. agencies believe that Russia conducted the cyberattacks with the intention of helping to elect Donald Trump, but officials have yet to say so publicly.