FBI warns against alleged Russian campaign to destabilize US elections
September 7, 2016 2 Comments
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is among several intelligence agencies in the United States that have expressed concerns about an alleged Russian campaign to destabilize November’s presidential elections. The Washington Post, which revealed the FBI’s concerns on Monday, claimed that Moscow recently launched an “active measures” operation aimed at covertly sabotaging the integrity of the US election process. Russia’s goal, said the paper, was to “counter US leadership and influence in international affairs”, thus subverting America’s image, especially in countries of the former Eastern Bloc or former Soviet republics.
According to The Post, the FBI and other US intelligence agencies have “no definitive proof” that Moscow is attempting to promote public distrust in American political institutions. But there are strong indications that have made this topic “a priority” for intelligence officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, said the paper. These indications include the hack of the computer systems at the Democratic National Committee, the official governing body of the US Democratic Party, which was revealed in June. The hack resulted in the disclosure of over 20,000 internal emails and led to the resignation of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the DNC’s Chairwoman. According to The Post, the hack is “not yet officially ascribed by the US government to Russia”, but US intelligence officials are convinced that Moscow was behind it.
The DNC hack prompted the FBI to send a so-called “flash alert” to US election officials in July, urging them to remain vigilant against “attempts to penetrate election systems”, which have been detected in several states, according to the report. The unprecedented FBI alert did not expressly name Russia as a national-security threat, nor did it give details of electoral sabotage. But it urged state election officials to “be on the lookout for intrusions into their election systems”. Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The Post said that the investigation into alleged Russian operations against the US Presidential election is being coordinated by James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 07 August 2016 | Permalink
intelNews.org 
Oh, my God, the Russians use soft power in the media just like the US! They want people to “see their sides of things”?! And produce media to that end?!?!
“attempting to promote public distrust in American political institutions”
Like the Russians even need to. I don’t trust a word that comes from Obama’s administration or one of the presidential candidates. They can blame the Russians for my and my ilk disliking them, and I don’t mind the Russians (so the disinformation must be working!), but I place the blame for the lack of trust squarely on the torrent of lies that come from the political class. Like Noam Chomsky says, “the only people unaware of US covert activities is the US population.” It seems like a mighty coincidence that when one of the presidential candidates sneezes the other says the Russians were behind that high speed movement of the air. On top of that rather odd circumstance, we have the DHS and the UN saying they want people ‘monitoring’ the voting booths to prevent election fraud. Like the machines cannot be hacked invisibly. Obama went from saying two weeks ago that “of course the elections are not rigged, what does that even mean?” to the story today that “The Russians are tricking people into supporting a particular candidate!”
I’m an amateur PC hardware enthusiast and even I know how difficult it is to attribute hacks properly. The FBI and various media outlets implying they know it’s the Russians is, to me, simply more potential lies being used in an effort by the US administration to swing the election with disinformation.
Mr. Trump is more likely to start a war with Russia that Mrs. Clinton. So it is more likely that Mrs. Clinton with her foregn affairs contacts is using this venue to attack her contender in the presidentual race.