Make no mistake about it: the opening shots of World War III were fired upon the United States of America during the lead up to the 2016 presidential elections.

The battle raged on during the 2016 elections, and most of America had no idea it even happened. Russia was so skillful in opening up this war that there are wide swaths of Americans who either do not believe the attacks happened, or are siding with the Russians.

The attack on our presidential elections will have far greater implications than the attack on Pearl Harbor, and will end up being far worse than 9/11. It is an attack not on our naval fleet, not on our Army, and not on our financial centers. Instead, it was a strike right at the core of our democracy—the very fabric of our nation.

Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling has impeccable credentials. He was the commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, and had a 37-year career in the U.S. Army. When someone like him speaks out of the dangers of a foreign power—especially Russia—you listen. This past week, Gen. Hertling published a lengthy article in Politico summing up the danger Russia presents.

In 2016, our country was targeted by an attack that had different operational objectives and a different overarching strategy, but its aim was every bit as much to devastate the American homeland as Pearl Harbor or 9/11. The destruction may not send pillars of smoke into the sky or come with an 11-digit price tag, and there’s no body count or casualty statistics—but the damage done has ravaged our institutions and shaken our belief in our immovability. But two years on, we still haven’t put any boats or men in the proverbial water. We still have not yet acted—just today, President Donald Trump, a beneficiary of this attack, exonerated the man who ordered it: Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

We know now that President Obama tried to sound the alarm about Russian interference into our elections. We know that President Obama warned the Russians not to interfere in our elections.

The White House confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that eight days before the presidential election, the United States “contacted the Russian government directly regarding malicious cyberactivity” that was “targeting U.S. state election-related systems.” It sent the message over a rarely used system: a hotline connecting the Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers in both countries, which they had agreed three years ago could also be employed to deal with major cyberincidents.

We also know that President Obama wanted a joint, bipartisan statement about the election hacking—one that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell watered down.