Now this is from Wikipedia, but the quotes are from a US Senate Intelligence Committee report. But there is plenty of evidence that what came from Russia was not limited to anything going under "free speech".
Intrusions into state election systems
A 2019 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee[148 ] found "an unprecedented level of activity against state election infrastructure" by Russian intelligence in 2016.[149] The activity occurred in "all 50 states" and is thought by "many officials and experts" to have been "a trial run ... to probe American defenses and identify weaknesses in the vast back-end apparatus—voter-registration operations, state and local election databases, electronic poll books and other equipment" of state election systems.[150] The report warned that the United States "remains vulnerable" in the 2020 election.[149]
Of "particular concern" to the committee report was the Russians' hacking of three companies "that provide states with the back-end systems that have increasingly replaced the thick binders of paper used to verify voters' identities and registration status."[150]
An unprecedented level of activity could just as easily be a response to how much more electronic the process had become since the prior election, how much more advanced has become the electronic espionage industry or how much more concerned Russia has become about who's in the White House, given our own threats of military invention in their border issues on the other side of the world.
It's also a report prepared by a committee of elected officials who need to be able to cover their ass when each one is asked in the election after something bad happens why they were not on top of it. It's like that infamous Presidential Daily Briefing that was used to blame Bush for not taking preemptive action against 9/11, but only said that Bin Laden was determined to attack the US, without mentioning kamikaze hijacked airlines. But the people preparing the briefing could at least claim that they warned the President as best they could. "Bin Laden DID attack the US, just like we said he would!" So too can the senators claim they gave warnings, but they aren't cyber security experts, it's not their fault the geeks failed to prevent whatever they'll claim in hindsight they were warning against.
I don't think there is any question that if Russia, or anyone else, had the potential capacity to adjust the Presidential election results to their wishes, they would seek to explore that capacity. I also don't see how that de-legitimizes the 2016 election or suggests Trump is beholden to Putin.
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
- 06/02/2020 09:29:12 PM
294 Views