"Maybe part of the problem was that it took the intelligence community a while to assemble really firm evidence of Russian involvement and Russian government involvement that delayed a response," Robert Gates said. | Getty Gates: U.S. leaders 'somewhat laid back' about campaign cyberattacks

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he thinks the Obama administration, congressional leaders, and President-elect Donald Trump "have been somewhat laid back" about alleged Russian cyberattacks during the campaign season.

In a clip from NBC News’ “Meet the Press" released Saturday evening, Gates said there was a lack of urgency from U.S. political leaders when asked by host Chuck Todd about the response from "Obama administration, from congressional leaders, Democratic and Republican, from Donald Trump."


"I think that given the unprecedented nature of it and the magnitude of the effort, I think people seem to have been somewhat laid back about it," said Gates, who was CIA director under George H.W. Bush.

All 17 federal intelligence agencies assessed that Russia is to blame for the wave of politically targeted cyberattacks.

Gates added that part of the problem was gathering evidence that Russia and the Russian government were involved, which could have delayed U.S. leaders' response.

"Maybe part of the problem was that it took the intelligence community a while to assemble really firm evidence of Russian involvement and Russian government involvement that delayed a response," he said. "Attribution is a challenge but it seems pretty clear to me that they've developed really reliable information that the Russian government was involved."