; relating to blocking the property of certain persons engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities) as Significant malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. . (4) On January 5, 2017, former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Marcel Lettre, and the Commander of the United States Cyber Command, Admiral Michael Rogers, submitted joint testimony to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate that stated that as of late 2016 more than 30 nations are developing offensive cyber attack capabilities and that Protecting critical infrastructure, such as crucial energy, financial, manufacturing, transportation, communication, and health systems, will become an increasingly complex national security challenge. . (5) There is significant evidence that hackers affiliated with foreign governments have conducted cyber operations targeting companies and critical infrastructure sectors in the United States as the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury have announced that— (A) on March 15, 2018, 5 Russian entities and 19 Russian individuals were designated under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act ( Public Law 115–44 ; 131 Stat. 886), as well as pursuant to Executive Order 13694, for interference in the United States elections in 2016 and other malicious cyber-enabled activities; (B) on March 24, 2016, 7 Iranians working for entities affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps were indicted for conducting distributed denial of service attacks against the financial sector in the United States from 2012 to 2013