Head of NSA visits Seattle, speaks about cyber-security

SEATTLE — Wednesday night, the man who is in charge of preventing hacks on the U.S. government and on private companies-- head of U.S. Cyber Command Admiral Michael Rogers-- was in Seattle.

His visit came as the Republican nominee - Donald Trump - finds himself at the center of yet another controversy.

Trump suggested Wednesday that Russia should hack into Hillary Clinton's emails.

Russian involvement is suspected in the hacking of internal communications at the Democratic National Committee.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” said Trump.

Trump was referring there to the emails that were deleted from Clinton's private server while she was Secretary of State.

The Clinton campaign responded, saying this is a national security issue and added:  "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent."

While Rogers would not get into the DNC e-mail hack or politics at the Seattle event, he said the United States is just as capable as Russia when it comes to cyber warfare.

However, Rogers said the U.S. plays by a set of legal guidelines that others sometimes do not.

"Threat is a combination of capability and intent," Rogers said. "When you look at Russia, they clearly have the capability... I would also argue they have shown a willingness to use this in ways that are of concern to us."

Rogers said in order to stay ahead of the rest of the world and innovate; he is on somewhat of a never-ending whirlwind tour meeting with people in the private sector. He said retaining the best tech talent, even with less pay to offer, is not as much of a challenge as recruiting people in the first place.

Rogers said seasoned people are often willing to accept a pay cut for the interesting and rewarding work.  However, he said the rigid military-style organization sometimes frustrates seasoned professionals, who do not want to start at the bottom of the hierarchy when they join the government.​

Cox Media Group