The Russia connectionGen. H. R. McMaster: "The Kremlin’s confidence is growing

Published 5 April 2018

In a speech at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, 3 April, the outgoing national security adviser Gen. H. R. McMaster said that “Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability.” He said that Western countries have been “targeted by Russia’s so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber assaults against sovereign nations.  Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target state’s threshold for a military response.  Tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage.” McMsster added: “The Kremlin’s confidence is growing.”

On Tuesday, 3 April 2018, in a speech at the Atlantic Council, the outgoing National Security Adviser Gen. H. R. McMaster delivered a broad and detailed assessment of the growing threat a resurgent Russia is posing to Western democracies and a rule-based international order. “Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability,” McMaster said, adding that “The Kremlin’s confidence is growing.”

McMaster will leave his post on Friday, 14 April. One of the reasons for his departure has been the growing divergence between his realistic appreciation of the Russian challenge and President Trump’s more benign view of Russia’s policies and Vladimir Putin’s designs.

Here are excerpts from General McMaster’s 3 April 2018 speech at the Atlantic Council:

Since the denial-of-service attacks on Estonia in 2007 and the invasion of Georgia in 2008, Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have all been targeted by Russia’s so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber assaults against sovereign nations. Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target state’s threshold for a military response. Tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage.

So for too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs.

The Kremlin’s confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another. Last month, Russia used a military-grade nerve agent in an attempted murder that endangered the lives of over 130 people, including many children. This attack was the first offensive use of nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War. It was an assault on the United Kingdom’s sovereignty. And any use of chemical weapons by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.