> However, they should expect no help whatsoever from the US government. Otherwise, they are just giving the Russians free bargaining chips.

They give U.S. citizen information. The citizen need them to make informed decisions. They are quite possibly the most important cog of a democracy. There should be no limit to resources needed to make them as safe as possible, to respond to a crisis, and to handle any threat to freedom of the press decisively and punitively.