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Surprise, surprise!
It’s called “Disinformation” people, what Russia did to “actively influence” America, to help Trump win.
Link to Video
NBC News - Meet the Press
[...]
CLINT WATTS:
First thing we would do is protecting the elections and the vote. This is paper ballot backups, making sure there's no hacking going against the systems. The next part is the tougher part, and that's what Tillerson was talking about, which is influence. Are we looking at how the Russians are trying to influence against Senate candidates or congressional candidates?
CHUCK TODD:
By the way, they did the congressional candidates in 2016. People forget this. They actually impacted a Democrat primary with stolen information in the state of Florida.
CLINT WATTS:
If you're a Congressman right now that's very anti-Russia or anti-Putin, you better bet you're going to get an influence effort levied against you. And so this really is having a bad effect because your president is saying, "No, this doesn't happen at all." So who has the congressman's back to be tough on Russia if you're a McCain, a Graham? Rob Portman, you know, from Ohio, a Republican, he was one of the first ones out in front on this.
CHUCK TODD:
So what would that mean, though? Is it protections that D.H.S. should be involved in with the campaign or is this something with the political parties, because that's a fine line here if you want the federal government to help secure campaigns, right? That's something that would make some people uneasy.
CLINT WATTS:
It's really political in civil society and the social media companies that are going to win this battle. Social media companies have to work together. Part of the reason they keep minimizing and keep making discoveries is they don't share data. When we do cyber security or hacking, we share data with each other, companies do. Social media companies, they have to work together to find these signatures of influence. On the political campaigns, they've got to be used in encrypted apps. They have to be securing their communications. And the big thing above all is Americans have to stop doing falsehoods against each other. Release the memo is a homerun for the Russians. They don't need to make a false narrative. Americans are making false narratives against each other. And they just repeat them.
CHUCK TODD:
We keep seeing these reports, how effective do you believe these Russian bots are? Or are some American political forces almost over-blaming Russian bots?
CLINT WATTS:
Yeah, Americans are doing active measures to each other now. Everyone's copying the playbook and information warfare. And that's really what Americans should worry about. There are no, the Honest Ads Act, you know, it has not been passed. We're seeing politicians use this warfare against each other. The Russians don't have to manufacture falsehoods. They can just repeat what Americans are saying about each other.
Hmmm, whom else is echoing this message — from his hospital care facility no less …
slate.com/…
Feb 2, 2018
“The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests — no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s,” [John] McCain said in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russia’s ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded.”
The senator said it is high time that the country’s elected officials not lose track of what’s actually important. “In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy,” McCain said. “Russia employed the same tactics it has used to influence elections around the world, from France and Germany to Ukraine, Montenegro and beyond.” It is critical for the country to get to the bottom of what happened and everyone, “including the president,” has to “stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”
For more astute observations from Clint Watts, see my previous post: