President Obama's request for a "full review" of recent cyberattacks on U.S. political institutions is not meant to undermine the results of last month's election, the White House said Friday.

"I want to be clear here, this is not an effort to challenge the outcome of the election," White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters hours after Obama's senior homeland security adviser revealed the president had directed the intelligence community to investigate Russia's cyber activity and alleged inteference in the 2016 presidential election.

"The president asked to go back with what we know to make sure we are using every tool possible to do our due diligence," Schultz explained. "We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections."

The White House said the review will look at "malicious cyber activity timed to our election cycles" and will be "broader than just this past election cycle." Schultz said intelligence officials will examine cybersecurity breaches that occurred in 2008 and 2016, noting that no major cyberattacks took place in 2012.

"This is going to put that activity [from 2008] in a greater context," he said.

Because the final report is likely to contain classified information, Schultz said it would first be made public to stakeholders on Capitol Hill before the Obama administration determines whether to make certain portions of it public.

"We're going to make public as much as we can," he said.

Obama has requested that the review be completed and a report delivered to him before he leaves office on Jan. 20.