anyone notice.......the bipartisan sanctions against Russia...have still not been implemented?
and supposedly congress came up with a 10 point plan to stop Russian interference into further voting...Mum on that he wants to talk about the memo!
Trump and the GOP are AWOL during Russia’s war against democracy
This exchange occurred on “Meet the Press” on Sunday:
How do you respond to cyber threats? We’re really not well together as a nation in terms of the threats we’re facing from the cyber arena. But Russia is going to get worse, if not better. Mr. President, go after Russia because they’re coming after us.
Graham (R-S.C.) sounds like a passive observer. Can’t for the life of me figure out why President Trump is so deferential to Russia. (Really?) Gosh, we better face the threats. You’d never know that Graham is a prominent U.S. senator who is among the most outspoken Republicans on national security.
Rather than watch bemused, perhaps Congress can start drafting legislation requiring a plan by the end of the year to combat election meddling. That would presumably give us enough time to prepare defenses against foreign meddling in the 2018 midterms.
Don’t expect the administration to do anything, as Benjamin Wittes and Susan Hennessey wrote after observing Attorney General Jeff Sessions flummoxed under gentle questioning from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) about ongoing preparations to secure our elections:
In short, the attorney general of the United States, though acknowledging and expressing confidence in the intelligence community’s assessment of foreign interference in the 2016 election and admitting that the government isn’t doing enough to guard against such activity in the future, could not identify a single step his department is taking or should take in that direction. He could not suggest a proactive role the department might play against foreign information operations. He could not even identify a policy review currently underway on the subject, though he agreed that one was appropriate. He could not identify legislation that might be helpful. And he could not name any departmental activity, beyond the FBI’s having capabilities, in support of states that might be targeted in upcoming elections.
That’s dereliction of duty, which members of Congress, including Graham and Sasse, should not tolerate. Congress should impose on the administration a deadline to produce a plan to secure the 2018 midterms against outside interference. Until the administration produces one, the Senate should put a hold on the confirmation of the new Homeland Security Department nominee, among other appointees.
Imagine if a George W. Bush administration official, a year after 9/11, had said that “the government isn’t doing enough to guard against such activity in the future, could not identify a single step his department is taking or should take in that direction … [and] could not suggest a proactive role the department might play against foreign information operations.” Democrats would be hollering for impeachment. Nevertheless, after our democracy has been attacked, the GOP has demonstrated no urgency to protect our electoral system.
This was precisely the problem the George W. Bush Institute identified in its policy initiative:
Measures could be adopted swiftly, if only the White House and Congress had the political will:
Some in Congress are moving forward to demand greater transparency in social media advertising to inhibit foreign influence.
In sum, no one (save the president) honestly doubts that Russia has interfered with Western elections, including our 2016 presidential contest. The administration, however, is uninterested in defending American democracy or exposing the extent of Russian meddling. The task of defending our electoral system therefore falls to Congress, which should act swiftly based on available information. (If Robert S. Mueller III turns up more details on the 2016 Russian plot, congressional efforts can be supplements.) Sorry, Sen. Graham, but the rest of us know exactly why Trump has a “blind spot” when it comes to Russia. Graham and other lawmakers must act accordingly.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...war-against-democracy/?utm_term=.266c9e7038d7
and supposedly congress came up with a 10 point plan to stop Russian interference into further voting...Mum on that he wants to talk about the memo!
Trump and the GOP are AWOL during Russia’s war against democracy
This exchange occurred on “Meet the Press” on Sunday:
CHUCK TODD: All right, before I let you go, you’ve come on this show numerous times and said, “Russia needs to be punished.” You passed a tough sanctions bill. You passed it in July. The president signed it in early August. There was a deadline of October 1st. It is not October 1st. It is October 20th and the sanctions have not been implemented. Why?
SEN. LINDSEY O. GRAHAM: I think that the Trump administration is slow when it comes to Russia. They have a blind spot on Russia I still can’t figure out. But I can tell you what happened in ’16.
TODD: Can you? At what point is that circumstantial evidence to you, sir?
GRAHAM: Well, all I can say is that wherever the Russian investigation takes us, it will take us. In ’16, they interfered in our elections, I don’t think it affected the outcome. But in ’18 and ’20, they’re coming back against us. What are the rules of engagement? Did what they do in 2016, did that amount to an act of war?SEN. LINDSEY O. GRAHAM: I think that the Trump administration is slow when it comes to Russia. They have a blind spot on Russia I still can’t figure out. But I can tell you what happened in ’16.
TODD: Can you? At what point is that circumstantial evidence to you, sir?
How do you respond to cyber threats? We’re really not well together as a nation in terms of the threats we’re facing from the cyber arena. But Russia is going to get worse, if not better. Mr. President, go after Russia because they’re coming after us.
Graham (R-S.C.) sounds like a passive observer. Can’t for the life of me figure out why President Trump is so deferential to Russia. (Really?) Gosh, we better face the threats. You’d never know that Graham is a prominent U.S. senator who is among the most outspoken Republicans on national security.
Rather than watch bemused, perhaps Congress can start drafting legislation requiring a plan by the end of the year to combat election meddling. That would presumably give us enough time to prepare defenses against foreign meddling in the 2018 midterms.
Don’t expect the administration to do anything, as Benjamin Wittes and Susan Hennessey wrote after observing Attorney General Jeff Sessions flummoxed under gentle questioning from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) about ongoing preparations to secure our elections:
In short, the attorney general of the United States, though acknowledging and expressing confidence in the intelligence community’s assessment of foreign interference in the 2016 election and admitting that the government isn’t doing enough to guard against such activity in the future, could not identify a single step his department is taking or should take in that direction. He could not suggest a proactive role the department might play against foreign information operations. He could not even identify a policy review currently underway on the subject, though he agreed that one was appropriate. He could not identify legislation that might be helpful. And he could not name any departmental activity, beyond the FBI’s having capabilities, in support of states that might be targeted in upcoming elections.
That’s dereliction of duty, which members of Congress, including Graham and Sasse, should not tolerate. Congress should impose on the administration a deadline to produce a plan to secure the 2018 midterms against outside interference. Until the administration produces one, the Senate should put a hold on the confirmation of the new Homeland Security Department nominee, among other appointees.
Imagine if a George W. Bush administration official, a year after 9/11, had said that “the government isn’t doing enough to guard against such activity in the future, could not identify a single step his department is taking or should take in that direction … [and] could not suggest a proactive role the department might play against foreign information operations.” Democrats would be hollering for impeachment. Nevertheless, after our democracy has been attacked, the GOP has demonstrated no urgency to protect our electoral system.
This was precisely the problem the George W. Bush Institute identified in its policy initiative:
The newest and arguably the most insidious form of this danger is the effort of foreign governments to influence American political discourse and undermine the credibility of our democratic election process. The Russian influence campaign in the 2016 presidential election, which used a combination of cyberattacks, disinformation, and financial influence, has been confirmed by the American intelligence community. Russia sought to undermine Americans’ faith in the legitimacy of our democracy and tip the election in favor of one side. The effort was undertaken as part of a broad geopolitical strategy to undermine the stability of liberal democracies and the international order more widely, and it was initiated at the direction of Vladimir Putin. The Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan initiative housed at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, finds that Russia has meddled in the affairs of at least 27 European and North American countries since 2004, with interference that ranges from cyberattacks to disinformation to financial influence campaigns. According to Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and counterterrorism specialist who is now a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the goal of Russia’s efforts “is to make the institution of democracy look not credible. Either the institutions are corrupt or you can’t trust the vote.”
Measures could be adopted swiftly, if only the White House and Congress had the political will:
The bipartisan National Election Defense Coalition, for example, recommends measures such as establishing voter-verified paper ballots as the official record of voter intent; safeguarding against Internet-related security vulnerabilities and assuring the ability to detect attacks; ensuring that voting systems and supporting information technology have the latest security patches; discouraging voters from voting online in any form—via web, email or fax—even in states where it is legal; and requiring robust statistical post-election audits before certification of final results in federal elections.
There’s also a bipartisan effort in Congress to limit access to election systems to qualified vendors, secure voter registration logs, help ensure proper audits of elections, create more-secure information sharing about threats, and establish proper standards for transparency. Securing the U.S. elections infrastructure can be done in ways that do not infringe upon states’ control of elections.
There’s also a bipartisan effort in Congress to limit access to election systems to qualified vendors, secure voter registration logs, help ensure proper audits of elections, create more-secure information sharing about threats, and establish proper standards for transparency. Securing the U.S. elections infrastructure can be done in ways that do not infringe upon states’ control of elections.
Some in Congress are moving forward to demand greater transparency in social media advertising to inhibit foreign influence.
In sum, no one (save the president) honestly doubts that Russia has interfered with Western elections, including our 2016 presidential contest. The administration, however, is uninterested in defending American democracy or exposing the extent of Russian meddling. The task of defending our electoral system therefore falls to Congress, which should act swiftly based on available information. (If Robert S. Mueller III turns up more details on the 2016 Russian plot, congressional efforts can be supplements.) Sorry, Sen. Graham, but the rest of us know exactly why Trump has a “blind spot” when it comes to Russia. Graham and other lawmakers must act accordingly.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...war-against-democracy/?utm_term=.266c9e7038d7
