The United States Senate pulled a fast one. On December 8, it passed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act was added to the authorization bill.

"The passage of this bill in the Senate today takes us one critical step closer to effectively confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us," said Senator Rob Portman, who introduced the original bill along with Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy. "While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the U.S. government has been asleep at the wheel. Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines. We are going to confront this threat head-on. With the help of this bipartisan bill, the disinformation and propaganda used against our allies and our interests will fail."

The following day, the CIA concluded with "high confidence" Russia had hacked the Republican National Committee's computer systems along with Democratic organizations, reported The New York Times.