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Published 14 August 2020

·  Warning on Russia Adds Questions About Senate’s Biden Probe

·  NSA, FBI Publicize Hacking Tool Linked to Russian Military Intelligence

·  U.S. Prepares Sanctions Against Hezbollah’s Allies in Lebanon

·  Jihadists Seize Key Port in Gas-Rich Northern Mozambique

·  Facebook Still Hosts Boogaloo Extremist Groups, Report Finds

·  Turkey Grants Citizenship to Hamas Operatives Plotting Terror Attacks from Istanbul (

·  Terror Groups Continue to Recruit U.S. Citizens Online

·  How QAnon Became Obsessed with ‘Adrenochrome,’ an Imaginary Drug Hollywood Is ‘Harvesting’ from Kids

·  Facebook Hopes Voting Hub Will Curb Mail-In Voting Misinformation

·  Judge Rebukes Feds over Statement Slamming Supreme Court’s DACA Ruling

Warning on Russia Adds Questions About Senate’s Biden Probe (Associated Press)
Even before last week’s intelligence assessment on foreign election interference, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson was facing criticism from Democrats that his investigation of presidential candidate Joe Biden and Ukraine was politically motivated and advancing Russian interests.
But the stark warning that Russia is working to denigrate the Democratic presidential candidate adds to questions about the probe by Johnson’s Senate committee and whether it is mimicking, even indirectly, Russian efforts and amplifying its propaganda.
Allegations about Biden and Ukraine remain a popular topic in conservative circles, pushed by Russian media and addressed regularly by President Donald Trump and other Republicans as a potential path toward energizing his supporters.
Last Friday, William Evanina, the government’s top counterintelligence official, told lawmakers behind closed doors that Russia is working to denigrate the Democratic presidential candidate by, among other things, using “Ukrainian actors” to feed GRU-manufactured false information into the Biden investigation.
Johnson suggested he was not willing to unequivocally trust the Evanina’s assessment.
“Particularly as a public official and somebody who’s responsible for keeping the country safe, you should always be suspicious of narratives that are trying to sort of damage or target the electoral process in your country,” said former CIA officer Cindy Otis, a foreign disinformation expert. “You should always be suspicious of narratives that foreign countries are pumping out.”

NSA, FBI Publicize Hacking Tool Linked to Russian Military Intelligence (Shannon Vavra, Cyberscoop)
The National Security Agency and the FBI are jointly exposing malware that they say Russian military hackers use in cyber-espionage operations.
Hackers working for Russia’s General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s 85th Main Special Service Center, military unit 26165, use the malware, which the Russians themselves call “Drovorub,” to target Linux systems, the NSA and FBI said Thursday in a detailed report.
The hackers, also known as APT28 or Fancy Bear, allegedly hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and frequently target defense, government, and aerospace entities. The Russian military agency is also known as the GRU.

U.S. Prepares Sanctions Against Hezbollah’s Allies in Lebanon (Dion Nissenbaum, Ian Talley, and Benoit Faucon, Wall Street Journal)
Officials hope to shape Beirut government as city rebuilds from explosion.