Story highlights Schiff says another cyber attack from Russia is inevitable

The Axe Files, featuring David Axelrod, is a podcast distributed by CNN and produced at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. The author works for the podcast.

Chicago (CNN) While many are focused on what Russia did in last year's US election and whether there was collusion with the Trump campaign, the Democrat leading the House probe says he has an equally urgent concern: How to deal with the inevitable next attack.

"Where I think Democrats really fell down on the job is, we failed to persuade the country why they should care," Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House intelligence committee, told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. "And that's not a mistake we can afford to make again."

Russian meddling in the US elections is now something that America must be prepared to confront in the future, Schiff said.

"How do we inoculate ourselves from this in the future? Because one of the key conclusions of the intelligence community is that the Russians will do this again," Schiff said. "This was not a one-off."

He added that a key reason he's advocated for public hearings is so the American public has a clear understanding of how Russia successfully interfered in the election, in order to effectively prevent it from happening again.

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