Former CIA director James Woolsey said on Sunday that it is up to the National Security Agency (NSA) to determine whether or not Russia conducted cyber attacks targeting Democratic institutions.

“This is really an NSA decision, and if — I think more than anything else. And if NSA is confident that it’s the Russians, then it almost certainly is. Depends on them,” Woolsey told ABC’s “This Week.”

Woolsey, who served as the head of the CIA from 1993-1995, said “there’s a strong chance” that the Russians are behind the hacking.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Obama Administration formally accused Russia of trying to interfere in the U.S. election in October.

President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE has questioned the intelligence assessments about the hacks.

Woolsey said that “Russian deception is pretty much constant."

“But the Russians are doing things all the time in related areas. They have a program they call disinformation, dezinformatsiya, which essentially means lying,” he said. “And they doctor photos of people and put them in publications. They have thousands of people who do this.