The Russia watchRussia will help the Democrats next; NSA leads as WH is MIA on cybrsecurity; Russia accessed Facebook’s data, and more

Published 20 July 2018

•  Why Russia will help the Democrats next

•  Trump is being manipulated by Putin. What should we do?

•  Homeland Security chairman warns of Russia’s ambitions

•  What we know about Russia’s election hacking

  Trump says Russia isn’t still targeting the U.S.—but he’s wrong

  From the start, Trump has muddied a clear message: Putin interfered

 •  NSA and Cyber Command to coordinate actions to counter Russian election interference in 2018 amid absence of White House guidance

  Document: Prosecutors seek pretrial detention for Mariia Butina

  Document: Indictment against Mariia Butina

  Trump decided Russia indictments should come pre-summit, sources say

  Trump tanks his own Putin walk-back during one of the “worst moments of his presidency”

  GOP rep: Putin delivered “classic disinformation” in conference with Trump

  U.S. officials “at a fucking loss” over latest Russia sell out

  Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook data was accessed from Russia, MP says

Why Russia will help the Democrats next (Garrett M. Graff, Politico)
Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, echoing the words of former CIA Director George Tenet about the summer of 2001, last week said that “I’m here to say, the warning lights are blinking red again…. The warning signs are there. The system is blinking. It is why I believe we are at a critical point.” His words reinforced consistent warnings from all the current leaders of the U.S. intelligence agencies – the CIA, NSA, Cyber Command, FBI, and others – and of all the former leaders of these organizations, and practically all former intelligence analysts who had dealt with Russia in their careers.
The verdict of all these seasoned professionals is unanimous: Russia is moving forward with more attacks on the midterm elections.
And why shouldn’t the Russians do more? Their multipronged 2016 attack, outlined in repeated indictments this year by special counsel Robert Mueller, was a resounding success, and in the nearly two years since, the United States has taken no meaningful action to change Russia’s calculation that the risk-reward of attacking American democracy is worth it.
“There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations,” Coats said in February. “We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States.”
What makes the American government’s ongoing inaction—and the general myopia on Capitol Hill and at the White House around the cyber threat—so stunning is the simple fact that the Republicans in charge of the executive and legislative branches should be terrified that they’re next. The 2016 attacks by Russia boosted President Donald Trump and undermined Hillary Clinton’s campaign, but there’s no guarantee that the next nation-state considering the electoral landscape will back the Republicans.
In fact, almost the opposite. There’s solid geopolitical evidence that boosting the Democrats would be a smart strategy for a foreign actor this fall. (Cont.)