President Obama orders review on Russian election hacking

[RoseWilder]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-report-election-meddling-russia_us_584ad081e4b0e05aded380ff

Quote

President Barack Obama has directed U.S. intelligence officials to produce a review of security breaches during the 2016 election and expects to receive results before he leaves office on Jan. 20, his homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters Friday.

Congress will be briefed on the report and Obama’s team will determine how much to share with the public once they see the results, Monaco said, speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast event. 

 

[kpmom]

Now I'm reading that the CIA believes there was Russian "interference" in the election and is briefing certain senators.

Does anyone believe there will be a true and meaningful investigation into this?

[Childless]

6 minutes ago, kpmom said:

Now I'm reading that the CIA believes there was Russian "interference" in the election and is briefing certain senators.

Does anyone believe there will be a true and meaningful investigation into this?

Nope.  There would have been had Clinton won, but with both houses and the executive branch held by Republicans, not a chance.  I think they know hacking went on, but don't want to jeopardize their win.  They'll manufacture some make believe crisis and this will fade away.  In typical fashion, the American electorate with their 2 second attention spans won't bother to care despite draping themselves in the flag and calling themselves patriots.

[HeathenBlondie]

Today on twitter, #RussianHackers is trending. Most of the tweets that I've seen are by sensible people that are outraged by this revelation. However, there are a LOT of Trump supporters who are claiming it's fake news and the liberals want to take the election away from Trump. They also think the ebil media is to blame. Surprise surprise there.

[GreyhoundFan]

The Washington Post has reported that McConnell has announced a Senate probe into the hacking. Sadly, if they do it as well as they've done just about everything else, nothing will come of it. Here is the beginning of the article:

Quote

A Senate intelligence panel plans to investigate Russia’s suspected election interference, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Monday as he strongly condemned any foreign interference with U.S. elections but rejected calls for an expanded congressional probe.

The plan for a congressional investigation into Russia’s potential involvement in the presidential election will be an early test of the relationship between Republicans on Capitol Hill and President-elect Donald Trump, who has disputed intelligence assessments faulting Russia for interfering in the presidential election.

“The Russians are not our friends,” McConnell declared to reporters at a scheduled year-end news conference as he announced plans for an investigation into Russia’s suspected interference in the elections. McConnell reportedly dismissed intelligence assessments earlier this fall suggesting that Russia was trying to sway the election in favor of Trump.

Members of both parties on Monday called for a public joint House-Senate inquiry that would lead to the public release of any findings. Others suggested an independent commission similar to the panel that investigated the beginnings of the war in Iraq. But McConnell said that any congressional probe of Russia would follow “regular order” through the current committee structure.

Sadly, I have a feeling it will be a bunch of wasted time and money because they won't release any useful information. Instead, they'll spend the time fighting over stupid crap, like the color of the paperclips to be used for the report.

 

[VixenToast]

Keith Olbermann is amazing. I fervently hope Obama watches this. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I truly despise Paul Ryan.

Quote

On Monday, Ryan dismissed calls for a probe into Russian meddling in the election, saying the House Intelligence Committee is “working diligently on the cyber threats posed by foreign governments and terrorist organizations.” He also appeared to criticize suggestions that Russia favored Trump, saying in a statement that “exploiting the work of our intelligence community for partisan purposes does a grave disservice to those professionals and potentially jeopardizes national security,” and “we should not cast doubt on the clear and decisive outcome of this election.”

Ryan also has waved off concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest related to his global real estate and branding empire. Asked last week by a CNBC interviewer how he hoped the president-elect would handle his business after he takes office, Ryan said, “However he wants to.”

“This is not what I’m concerned about in Congress,” he said.

If Hillary had publicly courted Russia, he would have been howling loud enough to be heard from coast to coast. And don't get me started on the business conflict of interest.

[candygirl200413]

Paul Ryan is using this excuse because he needs to focus on how to take away everyone's SS/Medicaid/Medicare, Orange fuckface being orange fuckface is not on his priority list!

[RoseWilder]

President Obama indicates there are clear links between Russia and Trump's campaign: 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/13/1610514/-President-Obama-indicates-clear-relationships-between-Trump-campaign-and-Russia

Quote

In a Daily Show interview, the President drew those lines in the other direction..

"You had what was very clear relationships between members of the president-elect’s campaign team and Russians, and a professed shared view on a bunch of issues.”

And Russian officials have already bragged about being in contact with the Trump campaign: 

Quote

Russia said it was in contact with President-elect Donald Trump’s team during the U.S. election campaign, despite repeated denials by the Republican candidate’s advisers that any links existed.

I'm waiting for the Republicans to start chanting "lock him up" about Trump, but I have a feeling I'll be waiting a very long time. 

[turquoise]

I don't understand why there is not more outrage about this. I agree with Keith Olbermann--this really feels like a coup.

I know this probably makes me sound like one of the crazy conspiracy theorists who think that Hillary murdered dozens of people, but I find myself wondering if voting machines in key states were hacked just enough to give Trump the edge.  I worry that laws will be passed  in the next few years to cement the Republicans' grip on power. With all the generals Trump wants to appoint, I worry that at some point a crisis will be manufactured and used as an excuse to suspend the Constitution and future elections, giving power to the military.

 

[VixenToast]

4 minutes ago, turquoise said:

I don't understand why there is not more outrage about this. I agree with Keith Olbermann--this really feels like a coup.

I know this probably makes me sound like one of the crazy conspiracy theorists who think that Hillary murdered dozens of people, but I find myself wondering if  voting machines in key states were hacked just enough to give Trump the edge.  I worry  that laws will be passed  in the next few years to cement the Republican's grip on power. With all these generals Trump wants to appoint, I worry that at some point a crisis will be manufactured and used as an excuse to suspend the Constitution and future election.

 

I wish my Daddy were still alive. He loved history, and always had a historical anecdote for me, his little history lover. I have my first diary. Sometime in 5th or 6th grade, I wrote that we were watching the news and Daddy had said there was trouble brewing "in a place called I-rock" and that we should keep our eyes open. This was a year before 9/11.

I could so use his comforting, slightly predictive and somewhat monotonous insight. But it's okay, I'm still his little historian, I kept on absorbing knowledge and names and dates and ideas concrete and abstract and politics global and regional, etc ad infinitum (Did I mention he knew Latin?) Now I have to be the one to study the past to predict the future. I just wish I could ask him if he thinks I'm in the right ballpark.

 

Gahhhh, I miss him so much around Christmas. I really needed him this election year too. I just know in my heart that he would see right through Trump's trumpery. He died in 2003, and had been a democrat from adulthood until 2002, when he shamefully turned Repub. But I KNOW he wouldn't approve of Trump.

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, VixenToast said:

I wish my Daddy were still alive. He loved history, and always had a historical anecdote for me, his little history lover. I have my first diary. Sometime in 5th or 6th grade, I wrote that we were watching the news and Daddy had said there was trouble brewing "in a place called I-rock" and that we should keep our eyes open. This was a year before 9/11.

I could so use his comforting, slightly predictive and somewhat monotonous insight. But it's okay, I'm still his little historian, I kept on absorbing knowledge and names and dates and ideas concrete and abstract and politics global and regional, etc ad infinitum (Did I mention he knew Latin?) Now I have to be the one to study the past to predict the future. I just wish I could ask him if he thinks I'm in the right ballpark.

 

Gahhhh, I miss him so much around Christmas. I really needed him this election year too. I just know in my heart that he would see right through Trump's trumpery. He died in 2003, and had been a democrat from adulthood until 2002, when he shamefully turned Repub. But I KNOW he wouldn't approve of Trump.

I'm sorry about your dad. Holidays are difficult when you are missing someone special. 

[turquoise]

9 hours ago, VixenToast said:

Gahhhh, I miss him so much around Christmas. I really needed him this election year too. I just know in my heart that he would see right through Trump's trumpery. He died in 2003, and had been a democrat from adulthood until 2002, when he shamefully turned Repub. But I KNOW he wouldn't approve of Trump.

I'm sorry about your dad. I often think about what my parents would have thought of Trump. Overall they were fairly conservative politically, but they would have been horrified by Trump and his enablers. They would have seen through the lies about Hillary. I really miss them but in a way I'm glad they don't have to see what is happening right now.

[VixenToast]

14 hours ago, turquoise said:

I'm sorry about your dad. I often think about what my parents would have thought of Trump. Overall they were fairly conservative politically, but they would have been horrified by Trump and his enablers. They would have seen through the lies about Hillary. I really miss them but in a way I'm glad they don't have to see what is happening right now.

I agree wholeheartedly

[GreyhoundFan]

Wow, just wow.

Quote

U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.

Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies, the officials said.

Putin's objectives were multifaceted, a high-level intelligence source told NBC News. What began as a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore," the official said.

Ultimately, the CIA has assessed, the Russian government wanted to elect Donald Trump. The FBI and other agencies don't fully endorse that view, but few officials would dispute that the Russian operation was intended to harm Clinton's candidacy by leaking embarrassing emails about Democrats.

The latest intelligence said to show Putin's involvement goes much further than the information the U.S. was relying on in October, when all 17 intelligence agencies signed onto a statement attributing the Democratic National Committee hack to Russia.

The statement said officials believed that "only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities." That was an intelligence judgment based on an understanding of the Russian system of government, which Putin controls with absolute authority.

Now the U.S has solid information tying Putin to the operation, the intelligence officials say. Their use of the term "high confidence" implies that the intelligence is nearly incontrovertible.

"It is most certainly consistent with the Putin that I have watched and used to work with when I was an ambassador and in the government," said Michael McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014.

"He has had a vendetta against Hillary Clinton, that has been known for a long time because of what she said about his elections back in the parliamentary elections of 2011. He wants to discredit American democracy and make us weaker in terms of leading the liberal democratic order. And most certainly he likes President-elect Trump's views on Russia," McFaul added. Clinton cast doubt on the integrity of Russia's elections.

As part of contingency planning for potential retaliation against Russia, according to officials, U.S. intelligence agencies have stepped up their probing into his personal financial empire.

American officials have concluded that Putin's network controls some $85 billion worth of assets, officials told NBC News.

Neither the CIA nor the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would comment.

A former CIA official who worked on Russia told NBC News that it's not clear the U.S. can embarrass Putin, given that many Russians are already familiar with allegations he has grown rich through corruption and has ordered the killings of political adversaries.

But a currently serving U.S. intelligence official said that there are things Putin is sensitive about, including anything that makes him seem weak.

The former CIA official said the Obama administration may feel compelled to respond before it leaves office.

"This whole thing has heated up so much," he said. "I can very easily see them saying, `We can't just say wow, this was terrible and there's nothing we can do.'"

Yet the Orange Toxic Megacolon says that there's no problem with Putin. Sigh.

[Mecca]

And now we have Trump loyalists spotted in Moscow. Not concerning at all...

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, Mecca said:

And now we have Trump loyalists spotted in Moscow. Not concerning at all...

Maybe Moscow will be Agent Orange's vacation spot...

[Howl]

I have mentioned in the past that TPM (Talking Points Memo) is my go-to new site.  

This particular article by Josh Marshall really caught  my eye this morning, because I had read the newspaper report referenced in the article about 5 minutes before going to Talking Points Memo

Quote

 

The Unfolding Chronicle of WTF

This is just a small part of a sprawling story. But indulge me for a moment while I focus in on it. John Podesta has a piece out tonight in the Post [link here] which is a broad indictment of the FBI, for its obsession with Secretary Clinton's private email server and its lackadaisical indifference to Russian sabotage efforts against her party and then her campaign. In the beginning of that piece Podesta zeroes in on something that jumped out at me too when I read the big New York Times story on the history of the Clinton hacks.

Here's the passage. 

As the former chair of the Clinton campaign and a direct target of Russian hacking, I understand just how serious this is. So I was surprised to read in the New York Times that when the FBI discovered the Russian attack in September 2015, it failed to send even a single agent to warn senior Democratic National Committee officials. Instead, messages were left with the DNC IT “help desk.” As a former head of the FBI cyber division told the Times, this is a baffling decision: “We are not talking about an office that is in the middle of the woods of Montana.”

Full text here.  Highly recommended. 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Trump has been lying about the Russian hack. He just accidentally admitted it himself. Warning, the picture at the beginning of the article is nauseating.

Quote

In recent days, Donald Trump has been spinning a new narrative about CIA charges of Russian interference in our election: The administration did not leak the news of this finding until after Trump won, which shows this is just an after-the-fact effort to undercut the significance of his victory over Hillary Clinton. As Trump tweeted Thursday: “If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”

This is not some small offhand remark. It represents an effort by Trump — one that is going to continue — to construct an alternative narrative to replace the increasingly substantiated one in which Russia may have in fact tried to interfere in our election to help him, which would obviously carry enormous significance on many levels.

But Friday, Trump send out a new tweet that accidentally reveals that he knows this entire narrative is a lie:

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?

Trump is referring here to news that broke in late October: That a hacked email showed that interim DNC chair Donna Brazile may have leaked a Democratic primary debate question to Clinton’s campaign in advance. Brazile publicly blamed this leak on Russian hackers who were out to divide Democrats by feeding the perception among Bernie Sanders supporters that the DNC was putting its thumb on the scales for her. This built on a formal statement that the intelligence community put out earlier in October declaring itself “confident” that Russia was trying to interfere in the elections by hacking into DNC emails.

And so, by referring to this episode, what Trump is inadvertently revealing here is that, yes, the complaint about Russian hacking to hurt Clinton did in fact precede the election, and this was widely and publicly known. Of course, there is ample other evidence that Trump is fully aware of this. The intel community had publicly declared it weeks before the election. Trump had reportedly been privately briefed on it by U.S. officials. Trump was confronted with evidence of the hack at a debate with Clinton that was watched by tens of millions of people. At the debate, he cast doubt on the notion that Russia had hacked the materials to hurt Clinton. And yet, as Mark Murray points out, Trump himself widely referenced the material dug up in the hacks at rallies, where he used that material to — wait for it — try to damage Clinton.

Trump’s latest efforts are extraordinarily ham-handed. In this new tweet, he thinks he’s muddying the waters by suggesting that the hackers tried to help Clinton (as if to say this shows they couldn’t have wanted to assist Trump), as part of a broader ongoing effort to build an alternative narrative to the emerging one about possible Russian interference to help him. But he’s just succeeded in revealing how preposterous that alternative narrative really is.

Once again, we do not know for sure that Russia interfered. But, should more evidence emerge, Trump’s position on this is very likely to grow unsustainable. Confronted with evidence that a foreign power may have tried to swing our election — something that’s being widely condemned by Republicans — Trump continues to refuse to take it seriously (even as his own advisers gamely try to pretend he does). Instead, Trump appears to harbor boundless confidence that he can spin any substitute story line he wants, and that, no matter how deeply absurd it is, his supporters will eagerly buy into the alternate reality he’s concocted for them.

How long can Trump maintain this posture? It’s possible that the intelligence community will leak more evidence of Russian interference in coming days. What’s more, there will soon be confirmation hearings for two retired generals Trump has picked for his Cabinet — James Mattis as defense secretary, and John Kelly as head of the department of homeland security. They will be asked about the intelligence community’s confidence that Russia did try to swing our election, and what should be done about it. One presumes they will treat the topic with the gravity it deserves. Meanwhile, Trump — and let me remind you, he will soon be doing this as president of the United States — will be dithering around with tweets designed to spin his own reality about what happened that everyone knows is straight out of la-la land, including (presumably) him.

That can’t go on for too much longer. Can it?

To the last sentence, yes, it can...

[kpmom]

Aside from a Senate investigation, which I agree with @GreyhoundFan will be worthless, what can we as ordinary citizens do about this?

Is contacting our representatives about our outrage enough?

What about the electors?  Can they be briefed on what the FBI and CIA knows (which I'm sure is a hell of a lot more than we citizens know) before they cast their votes (or whatever they do)?

[GreyhoundFan]

7 minutes ago, kpmom said:

Aside from a Senate investigation, which I agree with @GreyhoundFan will be worthless, what can we as ordinary citizens do about this?

Is contacting our representatives about our outrage enough?

What about the electors?  Can they be briefed on what the FBI and CIA knows (which I'm sure is a hell of a lot more than we citizens know) before they cast their votes (or whatever they do)?

Unfortunately, Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has said that there will not be a briefing for the electors before Monday. I can't find the source, but I read that late last night. This is a good article where bipartisan electors requested that the facts be released. It's quite a large list of electors requesting information. I won't quote the entire letter from the electors, but this part is so true:

Quote

The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations. We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States.

 

[RoseWilder]

6 hours ago, kpmom said:

Is contacting our representatives about our outrage enough?

I think that's a good start. But you could also contact the Department of Justice. I don't know if it'll make a difference of not, but at least we'll know we tried. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Kellyanne needs to take a long walk off a short pier.  "Kellyanne Conway: Electors’ concern over Russian hacking allegations is ‘nonsense’" An excerpt:

Quote

“The entire nonsense about the electors trying to use the Russian hacking issue to change the election results is really unfortunate,” she told Dickerson. “I think that actually undermines our democracy more than any other conversation that we’re having right now.”

Dickerson pressed Conway several times about whether Trump had evidence that Russians did not hack the election that would cause his stance to differ from that of the wider intelligence community.

“The president-elect receives intelligence briefings that I am not privy to,” Conway responded.

She also suggested that President Obama's recent tough talk on Russia came because he was “under political pressure” to do so. On Friday, Obama said the United States will retaliate against Russia “at a time and place of our own choosing” over its malicious cyber activities during the U.S. election.

Dickerson asked whether Trump supported Obama's approach, a question Conway did not directly address.

“The president-elect respects the ability of President Obama to do what he sees necessary in any number of different arenas,” Conway said. “It does seem to be a political response at this point, because it seems like the president is under pressure from Team Hillary, who can’t accept the election results.”

I don't know if she really believes the crap that comes out of her mouth or it is just because she was hired to speak.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is interesting: "Obama administration announces measures to punish Russia for 2016 election interference"

An excerpt:

Quote

The Obama administration announced sweeping new measures against Russia on Thursday in retaliation for what U.S. officials have characterized as interference in this fall’s presidential election, ordering the expulsion of Russian “intelligence operatives” and slapping new sanctions on state agencies and individuals suspected in the hacks of U.S. computer systems.

The response, unveiled just weeks before President Obama leaves office, culminates months of internal debate over how to react to Russia’s election-year provocations. In recent months, the FBI and CIA have concluded that Russia intervened repeatedly in the 2016 election, leaking damaging information in an attempt to undermine the electoral process and help Donald Trump take the White House.

Because Thursday’s announcement is an executive action, it can be undone by the next administration. But Obama’s last-minute measures put pressure on Trump, who has largely waved off the allegations against Russia, to make a decision about whether to keep the punitive measures in place.

In a statement issued by his transition office late Thursday, Trump was noncommittal, saying, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.”

“Nevertheless,” he said, “in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation.”

Taken together, the sanctions and expulsions announced Thursday were the most far-reaching U.S. response to Russian activities since the end of the Cold War, and the most specific related to Russian hacking. The administration also released a listing of addresses of computers linked to the Russian cyberattacks and samples of malware inserted into U.S. systems.

 

Of course the weasel himself, Paul Ryan, had to be nasty:

Quote

Congressional Republicans welcomed the crackdown but said it was overdue.

“It is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said the measures were inadequate and promised to fight for stronger sanctions.

 

Despite Trumplethinskin's non-committal stance, I bet he'll have something to whine about on Twitter tonight. Oh, and I love how he's going to deign to attend an actual security briefing next week. Wow, how Presidential. (note sarcasm font).

[GreyhoundFan]

This is getting ridiculous: "Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont, U.S. officials say"

Quote

A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials.

While the Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations of the utility, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a security matter, the penetration of the nation’s electrical grid is significant because it represents a potentially serious vulnerability. Government and utility industry officials regularly monitor the nation’s electrical grid because it is highly computerized and any disruptions can have disastrous implications for the function of medical and emergency services.

American officials, including one senior administration official, said they are not yet sure what the intentions of the Russians might have been. The penetration may have been designed to disrupt the utility’s operations or as a test by the Russians to see whether they could penetrate a portion of the grid.

Federal officials have shared the malware code used in Grizzly Steppe with utility executives nationwide, a senior administration official said, and Vermont utility officials identified it within their operations.

While it is unclear which utility reported the incident, there are just two major utilities in Vermont, Green Mountain Power and Burlington Electric.

According to a report by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the hackers involved in the Russian operation used fraudulent emails that tricked their recipients into revealing passwords.

The Russians have been accused in the past of launching a cyberattack on Ukraine’s electrical grid, something they have denied. Cybersecurity experts say a hack in December 2015 destabilized Kiev’s power grid, causing a blackout in part of the Ukrainian capital. On Thursday, Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russian of waging a cyber war on his country that has entailed 6,500 attacks against Ukranian state institutions over the past two months.

A DHS spokesman declined to comment on the matter Friday.

 

Yet Putin's Personal Fluffer will deny there is any issue and say we should just go on with our lives....