January 6, 2017

"American intelligence officials have concluded that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, 'ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election'..."

"... and turned from seeking to 'denigrate' Hillary Clinton to developing 'a clear preference for President-elect Trump,'" the NYT reports.
The conclusions were part of a declassified intelligence report, ordered by President Obama, that was released Friday afternoon. Its main conclusions were described to Donald J. Trump by intelligence officials earlier in the day, and he responded by acknowledging that Russia sought to hack into the Democratic National Committee, but said nothing about the conclusion that Mr. Putin had sought to aid his candidacy, other than that it had no effect on the outcome.
You can read the report PDF here

152 comments:

Lewis Wetzel said...

Read Annex B, "Estimative language", page 13 first.

J. Farmer said...

And when has the American intelligence community ever gotten anything wrong? I mean, except for the Russians getting the bomb, the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, the Shah of Iran, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Iraq's underground nuclear program, the Indian nuclear test, Iraq's WMD program, getting informants killed in Iran, etc. etc. etc. Who would think that secret people using secret evidence to make secret judgments could be so error prone?

Drago said...

Hmmm. Another selective leak from our beyond-criticism clandestine services and which just so happens to buttress the dems talking points in their current campaign to delegitimize the election of Trump.

Nope. Nothing to question here. Nothing at all.

It's a good thing Obama ordered this report to be fully released just prior to Trump being inaugurated otherwise "politics" might have been introduced.

Oh, btw, the IRS never targeted conservative groups. Nope. The IRS is also completely above board on that count.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

So, what sources and methods did we burn so that democrats feel better about their political prospects?

Drago said...

It's also a good thing the dems never allowed anyone from the FBI to examine their servers because.......reasons.

I hope the Chinese are enjoying their 22 million OPM records with complete FBI background checks on US citizens. We wouldn't want to over-react to that.

Fernandinande said...

This post intentionally left blank.

WisRich said...

Welp, there's plenty of assertions...not much to back them up.

rehajm said...

So Russian trolls are better at influencing voters than All the leftie mainstream media combined?

That's quite impressive.

traditionalguy said...


Those are mighty authoritative words there that repeat that assessing the writer's own rumors and have finally lead them to a conclusion that their first rumors started when they made their first Press Releases to NYT as a rumor might actually have happened.

tcrosse said...

What about all of us who made up our minds about Hillary in 1998 ? Did the Russians influence that ?

Mary Beth said...

The Russians and the American people (outside of California) have a shared dislike of Hillary. It may not be enough to build a relationship on, but it's a start.

Mark said...

Lem complains that we have burned sources and methods, WisRich complaining that we haven't outed enough.

Typical Althouse commentariat, wanting things both ways.


Except in the bedroom.

rcocean said...

After reading it, it seems to be saying (a) Putin wanted Trump not Hillary and (b) tried to influence the election by attacking Hillary on RT and not praising Trump.

IOW, Russia did the same thing that the Chicoms, Israel, and pretty much every foreign country did.

However, the Russians may have hacked the DNC and *may* have given the e-mails to wiki-leaks. IOW, the Russians were de facto investigative reporters who did what the WaPo and NYT would've LOVED to have done against Trump and the RNC.

The Russians did not effect the vote totals or even try to.

Ann Althouse said...

"Another selective leak..."

How is this a leak?

Anonymous said...

I'm at a loss to figure out what the Russians actually did.
Did I miss something?

Ann Althouse said...

"The conclusions were part of a declassified intelligence report, ordered by President Obama, that was released Friday afternoon."

That's not a leak.

rcocean said...

The only interesting part is the DNC-Wikileaks-Russia connection. But even that's small beer, since we know Podesta was Phished and a 2-year old could've hacked his email account.

BTW, did you know LBJ had the FBI bug the Goldwater campaign? Or that FDR OK'd British Intelligence blackmailing Republican Senator Vandenberg and running "operations" against American Isolationists?

DanTheMan said...

Can anyone point to a single vote that the Russians changed illegally?

Gahrie said...

So basically, Putin tried to do to us what Obama did to the Israelis?

darrenoia said...

rehajm said it more succinctly than I could, but on an (admittedly cursory) glance, it looks like this report details a lot of things that were said and done overtly. I think the bigger concern is not that Putin prefers Trump but that Trump seems to love Putin.

That said, is it officially okay to worry about Russian propaganda in the U.S. now? Shall we expect an avalanche of movies depicting HUAC and Senator McCarthy in a more sympathetic light?

rcocean said...

Basically, we have a situation where Hillary, the MSM, and the DNC told us - during the election - that the wikileaks DNC e-emails were irrelevant and should be ignored.

But *now*, they somehow swung the whole election, and Trump is Putin's pawn.

Drago said...

Althouse: "The conclusions were part of a declassified intelligence report, ordered by President Obama, that was released Friday afternoon."

That's not a leak."

The "conclusions" were leaked long ago (Dec 9, 2016): http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/us/obama-russia-election-hack.html?_r=0

"Russian Hackers Acted to Aid Trump in Election, U.S. Says"

rcocean said...

"So basically, Putin tried to do to us what Obama did to the Israelis?"

Or what Obama did with Brexit? Or what the Brits or the Mexican Government did with Trump?

Oso Negro said...

The obvious solution to this problem is for President Obama to declare the election invalid, remain in office indefinitely until a "fair" election can be held at an unspecified future date, and ask the U.N. to deploy troops to the troublemaker states that voted for Trump.

traditionalguy said...

It's a stand off now. Next question is whether DJT will fire them before they can get the assassination teams in place.

Will SNL lend out several Donald Trump look alikes who have his mannerisms down. Or finally there may be a job for Chris Christie, standing between Trump and the grassy knolls.

Almaron Dickinson said...

OK, as I read the report, the Russians used their RT channel to publicize negative information about Hillary. I can't imagine that the viewership of RT is significant enough to have influenced anyone. It certainly doesn't seem like it would have made a bit of difference outside of DC and New York - which voted for Clinton.

rcocean said...

BTW, Rosie O'Donnell has weighed into the Planned Parenthood debate, tweeting:

"and me too - fuck u paul ryan - shame"

Good ol' Rosie. Classy AND smart.

D.D. Driver said...

As could be predicted, I see little "there" there. The vast majority of the report is how RT was mean to Hillary and nice to Trump. The problem with that is that hardly anyone watches RT. The report compares the social media presence of RT versus CNN et. al. But the report doesn't disclose the most relevant data point: ratings! It's a tree that fell in the forest that nobody heard.

But it gets better: RT has been nice to Assange and even interviewed him in 2013 so, therefore, Russians must be forwarding documents to Wikileaks.

Clearly if it weighs the same as a duck its made of wood, and therefor a witch.

JackWayne said...

This report appears to be one that could have been released any time in the last 50 years. I am unimpressed with Obama's very selective outrage. Actually hack the government (OPM and others) and Obama does nothing public. Hack the DNC and show their corrupt practices and we get scorched earth on the Russians. So does this indicate Obama is more afraid of the Chinese than the Russians? Or does this simply show - Once a small, petty man, always a small, petty man?

Michael K said...

"That's not a leak."

If you believe that Obama controls what is made public from the "Intelligence Community" and what he says to release is not a leak, then I agree.

Do you also think that Biden did not "leak" Seal Team Six's role in the bin Laden mission? They were subsequently killed in a helicopter shootdown. No connection ?

The Pakistani doctor who clued us in to bin Laden's residence in Pakistan is still in prison as a result of one of those "non-leaks."

Quayle said...

"I'm at a loss to figure out what the Russians actually did."
"Did I miss something?"


You didn't miss anything. Nothing new, at least.

Propaganda and subversion have been the stock and trade of the Russians for the past 100 years. This only looks new because it involves the internet, and because the source of internet based words and misinformation is harder to trade to the origin, than are printed materials.

And because it is being used as a cover and an excuse for the abject failure by the press and the democratic party.

But consider, while we're on the topic of misinformation and subversion:

is this Russian "involvement" any more troubling than the press closing ranks and uniformly hiding the fact in 1988 that by the spring before the election the economy had already turned around and was back on an upswing, which hiding aided and abetted the election of Clinton?

is this Russian thingy any more subversive of our system than reporters leaking debate questions to one of the candidates?

Is this Russian "misinformation" undermining our democracy any more than the IRS putting its thumb on the scales of non-profit status, or the administration and state department outfight lying to us about the causes of terrorist attacks in Libya, or the Obama administration yawning and going back to sleep when the Russians shot a passenger jet carrying civilians from Amsterdam/Rotterdam, or the DOJ lying to us about selling guns into Mexico, or Hillary conducting state department business on a private unsecured server?

Put in that perspective, the Russia thing is a red herring. Foreign governments have tried and tried for hundreds of years to influence the affairs of the US, and for thousands of years the affairs of other foreign governments. The internet, and our wholesale adoption and unquestioning absorbs ion of its content, have only made it easier for the Russians to do what they have always done.

Again, the only difference now is that the Russian agents don't have to blend in to the scenes and society of New York. They can do their work in their pajamas at home in Moscow.

Sort of a PJKGB.

Gk1 said...

Trump's opening act should be to break the CIA in two and fire a boat load of those pricks. Starve their budget like the IRS and then let them decide if they want to keep interfering in U.S elections for once. If they were pulling their own weight that would be one thing but not these hosers. Trump needs to put the fear of god into them right off the bat.

n.n said...

I voted for Revitalization, Rehabilitation, Reconciliation. A dawn following a seemingly endless period of twilight.

Drago said...

D.D. Driver: "Clearly if it weighs the same as a duck its made of wood, and therefor a witch"

What hacking story "floats"? Very small democrat party line pebbles?

You sir, you seem a learned man...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZWgrf6Qds

Mike Sylwester said...

[quote]

Sourcing

Many of the key judgments in this assessment rely on a body of reporting from multiple sources that are consistent with our understanding of Russian behavior. Insights into Russian efforts — including specific cyber operations — and Russian views of key US players derive from multiple corroborating sources.

Some of our judgments about Kremlin preferences and intent are drawn from the behavior of Kremlin loyal political figures, state media, and pro-Kremlin social media actors, all of whom the Kremlin either directly uses to convey messages or who are answerable to the Kremlin. The Russian leadership invests significant resources in both foreign and domestic propaganda and places a premium on transmitting what it views as consistent, self-reinforcing narratives regarding its desires and redlines, whether on Ukraine, Syria, or relations with the United States.

[end quote]

No "intelligence sources or methods"

No intercepted communications

No spies or informants

n.n said...

So, Russians are the new Jews. The Left must be desperate.

LYNNDH said...

My understanding is that the report was "leaked" to NYT (or some other paper) yesterday, before Obama got to see and before Trump got to see it. That is a Leak.

JackWayne said...

Following up, consider this: we are told that the Russians tried to influence American voters to vote for Trump. Outrageous! But we know from the hack, whoever did it, that the Democrats influenced the election by deliberately sabotaging the campaign of a stupid but somewhat honest man. Not outrageous! Pardon me if I choose not to give a shit.

Mike Sylwester said...

Lem at 4:27 PM

So, what sources and methods did we burn so that democrats feel better about their political prospects?

This finding is not based on any "intelligence sources and methods".

No intercepted communications. No spies or informants.

It's all guess-work.

Hagar said...

Politicians telling the intelligence agencies to come up with a report and what is to say and to sign it.

Kirk Parker said...

If true, all this means is that the Russians were working for my side in the last election... And I didn't even have to pay them!

n.n said...

Mike Sylwester:

Inference. The preferred argumentation of scientific mystics, Profits (sic), and politically inviable parties. The tell-tale hearts beat ever louder.

tim maguire said...

Granted, I did not read the whole thing, but the Key Judgments do not support the claim that the Russians were trying to help get Trump elected. They assumed Hillary would win and were trying to weaken her. There's nothing suggesting that they would not have done the same thing to Trump if they thought he would win.

So now, what do we do about Russia's meddling? I trust Trump more than Clinton to manage an appropriate and effective response. Which isn't saying much.

n.n said...

When Deep Plunger exposed WaterCloset, the Nigerian Phishers caught a big one in Clinton's campaign, and confirmed the Democratic character, he/she/it embarrassed the DNC and its sympathizers more than we imagined. And the JournoLists came tumbling after.

At least no one signed their name to this juvenile reprieve.

Mike Sylwester said...

[quote]

RT broadcasts support for other Russian interests in areas such as foreign and energy policy.

RT runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health. This is likely reflective of the Russian Government's concern about the impact of fracking and US natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom's profitability (5 October).

[end quote]

Now the Obama Administration is complaining that Russian TV reports about environmental problems caused by fracking.

Were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Russian agents?

AllenS said...

Actually, I ordered the hack. Instead of using my AllenS handle, I used Putin.

Wince said...

From the "Annex." As far as actual pulblic policy, which US party do these RT positions most reflect?

RT broadcasts support for other Russian interests in areas such as foreign and energy policy.

- Simonyan has characterized RT's coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement as "information warfare" that is aimed at promoting popular dissatisfaction with the US Government. RT created a Facebook app to connect Occupy Wall Street protesters via social media. In addition, RT featured its own hosts in Occupy rallies ("Minaev Live," 10 April; RT, 2, 12 June).

- RT's reports often characterize the United States as a "surveillance state" and allege widespread infringements of civil liberties, police brutality, and drone use (RT, 24, 28 October, 1-10 November).

- RT has also focused on criticism of the US economic system, US currency policy, alleged Wall Street greed, and the US national debt. Some of RT's hosts have compared the United States to Imperial Rome and have predicted that government corruption and "corporate greed" will lead to US financial collapse (RT, 31 October, 4 November).

- RT runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health. This is likely reflective of the Russian Government's concern about the impact of fracking and US natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom's profitability (5 October).

- RT is a leading media voice opposing Western intervention in the Syrian conflict and blaming the West for waging "information wars" against the Syrian Government (RT, 10 October-9 November).

- In an earlier example of RT's messaging in support of the Russian Government, during the Georgia-Russia military conflict the channel accused Georgians of killing civilians and organizing a genocide of the Ossetian people. According to Simonyan, when "the Ministry of Defense was at war with Georgia," RT was "waging an information war against the entire Western world" Kommersant, 11 July

Lewis Wetzel said...

Oh, btw, the IRS never targeted conservative groups. Nope. The IRS is also completely above board on that count.
"Not even a smidgeon of corruption", said Obama about an ongoing investigation, about which he knew nothing. And the media, as usual, yawned.

Drago said...

We will know for sure if Putin has Trump over a barrel if Trump ends up giving up Syria, the Crimea, missile defense for the Baltics and at least 20% of our uranium to the Russians....


....oh. Wait. Right.

YoungHegelian said...

Those Russians! They were everywhere hacking & meddling with our computer systems to influence the election.

But, of course, those Russians didn't get anything from Hillary's bathroom server. Those wily & nasty Russians just missed that opportunity. They somehow never got a chance to see any emails coming or going to the clintonemail.com domain, & if they did, they were just too stupid to think "Hmmm, I wonder where that email server is located..".

It's amazing how the Russians seemed to have been everywhere except on Hillary's email server, isn't it?

Drago said...

Kirk Parker: "If true, all this means is that the Russians were working for my side in the last election... And I didn't even have to pay them!"

#Winning!

rcocean said...

Mccain has always hated Putin with the intensity of 10,000 suns.

Does this mean the Russians "hacked" the 2008 election too?

Seeing Red said...

Well, it's not like the DJT campaign dismantled the credit card checks and balances from his donations page.

No foreign influence there at all.

Mike Sylwester said...

[quote]

RT aired a documentary about the Occupy Wall Street movement on 1, 2, and 4 November. RT framed the movement as a fight against "the ruling class" and described the current US political system as corrupt and dominated by corporations. RT advertising for the documentary featured Occupy movement calls to "take back" the government. The documentary claimed that the US system cannot be changed democratically, but only through "revolution." After the 6 November US presidential election, RT aired a documentary called "Cultures of Protest," about active and often violent political resistance (RT, 1-10 November).

[RT Editor in Chief Margarita] Simonyan has characterized RT's coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement as "information warfare" that is aimed at promoting popular dissatisfaction with the US Government. RT created a Facebook app to connect Occupy Wall Street protesters via social media. In addition, RT featured its own hosts in Occupy rallies ("Minaev Live," 10 April; RT, 2, 12 June).

[end quote]

The US Presidential election took place on November 8.

In the preceding days, Russian TV was broadcasting shows about Occupy Wall Street.

No wonder Hillary Clinton lost the election !!!

Meade said...

"The conclusions were part of a declassified intelligence report, ordered by President Obama"

Watch Dogs.

Drago said...

rcocean: "Mccain has always hated Putin with the intensity of 10,000 suns"

Russians participated in his and other American POW interrogations with real torture.

Real torture.

Not the fake torture the US left lies about.

Sebastian said...

Left out of the report, apparently, is some assessment of the brilliance of crafty Putin, who had the wild idea that simply revealing the truth about the DNC and the Podesta posse would swing the election to Trump.

@Mike S: "Sourcing. Many of the key judgments in this assessment rely on a body of reporting from multiple sources that are consistent with our understanding of Russian behavior. Insights into Russian efforts — including specific cyber operations — and Russian views of key US players derive from multiple corroborating sources. Some of our judgments about Kremlin preferences and intent are drawn from the behavior of Kremlin loyal political figures, state media, and pro-Kremlin social media actors . . ." That tea is even weaker than I thought it would be.

Drago said...

I almost did a spit take on that pic Meade.

Quayle said...

I know that the Russians are not a threat because Obama told me they weren't, and Obama is one of the smartest presidents, if not THE smartest President we've ever had in our history. I have that on very good authority.

(Romney was such a silly stupid fool - suggesting we needed more troops in Iraq.)

I especially love when Obama goes for the jugular and smacks down Romney with the killer put-down:

What we need now in the middle east is "strong, steady leadership, not wrong reckless leadership that is all over the map."

rcocean said...

"Russians participated in his and other American POW interrogations with real torture."

Yeah, the NV and Chicoms had nothing to do with it. But he loves them - its only Putin that he hates.

Odd.

n.n said...

Is the Kremlin behind the effort to indoctrinate elective abortion (a.k.a. Pro-Choice), Planned Parenthood/clinical cannibalism, and other evolutionary dysfunctional behaviors, masochistic orientations through [class] diversity and other social [in]justice movements, into the American People and replace our "legally" excised Posterity through anti-native immigration?

I guess we'll have to wait for confirmation from Deep Plunger and another Nigerian Phishing expedition.

Anonymous said...

Best take-aways from the report

“RT runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health. This is likely reflective of the Russian Government's concern about the impact of fracking and US natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom's profitability (5 October). “

Russians behind anti-fracking movement. Matt Damon call your agent.



RT aired a documentary about the Occupy Wall Street movement on 1, 2, and 4 November. RT framed the movement as a fight against "the ruling class" and described the current US political system as corrupt and dominated by corporations. RT advertising for the documentary featured Occupy movement calls to "take back" the government. The documentary claimed that the US system cannot be changed democratically, but only through "revolution."

Occupy folks totalitarian tools. We already knew that.

rhhardin said...

Putin wanted a worthy opponent.

Mark said...

"American intelligence officials have concluded . . .

So I flipped through it and read again and again --

We assess . . .
We assess . . .
We assess . . .
We assess . . .
We assess . . .
We assess . . .

And that was basically it. No direct evidence. No circumstantial evidence. Just assertions and bald "assessments."

Unknown said...

I just read the report and it is complete conjecture based on assumptions and estimatojikns that have nothing to do
With logic and common sense. We find that outinnis friendly with business leaders with interest in russiA. No shit.

Putin stopped denigrating the election after trump
Won because we conclude it would likely harm future relations. Duh

This is a report from High school social studies class

Mark said...

"Another selective leak..."
How is this a leak?


"Government officials" briefed members of the media without security clearances before they briefed the president-elect who does have security clearance. How is it that the man who in a few days will be commander in chief is the last guy to get the briefing?

SGT Ted said...

This goes right back to Hillary compromising national security by setting up her own unsecured email server and conducting official business on it, when it was known that foreign powers hostile to the USA have been conducted cyber espionage ever since there has been the internet.

The attempted, two bit, cheesy defense of Hillary's criminal conduct regarding SIGINT and safeguarding classified documents while Secretary of State is contradicted and destroyed by this report.

Mark said...

Obama's politicized intelligence team: "Here's our report in a nutshell -- We wanted to say that the Russians did it, and so we assess that they did it. We wanted to say that a shirtless Putin personally sat at the computer like he's Mr. Robot and he broke into the government and DNC computers himself, so that is what our assessment it."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Thanks Mike S.

n.n said...

Hillary's criminal conduct regarding SIGINT and safeguarding classified documents while Secretary of State is contradicted and destroyed by this report

Another reason to vote for... someone else. Perhaps a "Donald J. Trump", American, who will not obstruct investigation of Water Closet and will drain the sewer.

sykes.1 said...

It looks like the CIA is trying to repatriate their coup machine. That swamp really needs to be drained and back filled. Clean dirt wanted.

sykes.1 said...

It looks like the CIA is trying to repatriate their coup machine. That swamp really needs to be drained and back filled. Clean dirt wanted.

n.n said...

... and will drain the sewer, maybe. With a new dawn, forever vigilant.

Christy said...

Mark hit the nail on the head. Obama's intelligence team has the same credibility as his economic team telling us how great the economy is, as his senior advisor Jarrett telling us how scandal free his administration has been, as his team telling us we could keep our healthcare. I do wonder what the intelligence operatives under the political appointees really think.

BlueHen said...

Some questions: 1) When they say 17 intelligence agencies agree, how many of those actually looked at anything independently or simply signed on to what 2-3 told and/or shared with the others; 2) Comey said it was likely that 5-6 state actors had hacked into Hillary's emails, but that sophisticated actors rarely leave a trace. Apparently that wasn't a problem with the Russian hacks of Podesta/DNC, so how much time was spent looking for evidence of Russia hacking Hillary's versus Podesta's; and 3) If the Russians decided Hillary would win and they wanted to use the info gathered to use against her presidency, what else did they have besides the Podesta emails? Inquiring minds want to know.

Mike Sylwester said...

A 14-year-old who spent the past year watching RT could have written about three-fourths of this intelligence finding.

rhhardin said...

I wanted Trump to win but was under the intelligence community radar apparently.

Dude1394 said...

Wikileaks versus our politicized government. I take Wikileaks.

Alex said...

So? As long as Russia didn't physically hack the voting machines they are free to influence all they want.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I am Normal American here to tell you that no citizens of glorious Motherland have been besmirching hard-earned reputation for toughness of pant-suit lady!
George Washington! Apple pie!

Sprezzatura said...

"So? As long as Russia didn't physically hack the voting machines they are free to influence all they want."

From this POV, there's no reason to limit foreign governments from funding our political candidates.

Carry on.

Steven said...

Well, how about this for a summary of the report:

---
Russia, just like the New York Times has for decades, tried to influence American politics through a mixture of biased media coverage and occasional leaks of illicitly-obtained information.
---

This whole Russia issue is of a piece with the previous "Facebook is providing fake news", Citizens United, Fox News, and talk radio freakouts over the last twenty-odd years. The outrage of the "legitimate" Media Establishment that other persons are daring to claim the privileges and powers of the Fourth Estate.

Well, the privileges and powers only existed because of transient technological advantages of the web-press printed classified ad and the three-network television cartel, and are inevitably doomed by modern telecommunications. They better get used to it.

The Vault Dweller said...

Hmm... Didn't President Obama order an influence campaign in the Israeli elections when he sent staffers to assist the opposition party to the party of Benjamin Netanyahu?

Alex said...

From this POV, there's no reason to limit foreign governments from funding our political candidates.

As long as the funding is transparent, why not? I suspect for political reasons no mainstream candidate would accept such funding. Let it be transparent FFS!

Alex said...

The problem I have with the liberal lunatics at this moment is they are trying to guilt Trump by association. Trump has had no coordination efforts with Putin. If he has, PROVE IT. Otherwise you are you engaged in SMEAR tactics.

StephenFearby said...


Who Watches the Watchmen - The Conflict Between National Security and Freedom of the Press (2011)
National Intelligence University; DIA

http://tinyurl.com/z3zxvna

'Operation BROADSIDE

During the 1960s and 1970s, a clandestine listening post inside the U.S. embassy in Moscow intercepted calls made from the limousines of Soviet Politburo members. Intelligence obtained from these intercepts was classified with the code name GAMMA GUPPY.

On September 16, 1971, columnist Jack Anderson published an article in the Washington Post disclosing the capabilities of the program. Beyond making a veiled reference to the operation or implying a capability, Anderson entitled his article “CIA Eavesdrops on Kremlin Chiefs".

After the disclosure, the Soviets began encrypting these communications.'


There is the suggestion in this case is that the Obama administration is quite willing to compromise intelligence sources and methods in a last gasp desperate effort to blame the election results on Russia. Beats looking in the mirror.

It is entirely believable that Russian security services (or private Russian malware generating entities operating on their behalf) were responsible for harvesting the DNC emails released by Wikileaks. However, their effect on the election results were very likely miniscule at best compared to the long-term negative public perception of the Hildabeast.

The public also had a negative perception of the Trumpster, although for different reasons.

Probably influenced by the polls, the Russians believed the Hildabeast would win up to the very end. Naturally, they patted themselves on the back when she lost.

The Russian effort under Putin to denigrate the West by programs like the RT cable networks and an army of paid internet trolls has been going on for some time. The Obama administration has largely ignored it. Until now, when it becomes convenient fodder for political gain.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The NPR quick hit this afternoon said the report concluded the Russians attempted to help Trump get elected but "did not say whether they were successful in swinging the election." Might have been "turned the election."
That kind of speculation seems...unhealthy. Especially when it is given the implied endorsement of serious news, you know?

Lewis Wetzel said...

If we are going to revive the Cold War, let's remember the CCCP how it was. Broke. Unable to feed itself. Run by brutal liars. Incompetent. A prison house of nations. Right until the end, they had themselves, and Western intellectuals, convinced that they owned the future.
They owned nothing. Their future was ashes.

walter said...

rehajm said...So Russian trolls are better at influencing voters than All the leftie mainstream media combined?
--
None of the players taking a hit beyond DWS. She must be pissed Brazile is still in place. Play all this up enough and the actual election collusion goes further under the rug.

n.n said...

Pro-Choicers are on one of their infamous baby hunts. They must have sincerely believed that the baby trials from Benghazi to Damascus to Kiev to Berlin were only the beginning of their twilight period.

William said...

I've seen all the Jason Bourne movies. I know that most of the higher ups at the CIA are callous bureaucrats who would kill dozens of innocent people to advance their careers, their narratives, or to inflate the already bloated CIA budget. Many if not most acts of terrorism are false flag operations carried out by the CIA. The CIA has a super secret team of operatives whose job is to kill whistleblowers and the reporters who accept their leaked info. I just hope that Trump puts a stop to these nefarious activities.

William said...

They didn't have much success in swinging the election for Henry Wallace. The Russians did, however, have considerable success in making any speculation about their involvement in American politics verboten. Back in those days the Russians had our best interests in mind. It's different now.

khesanh0802 said...

My comment from the WSJ

"I skimmed the report and it appeared to me that any group of business school students could have put together the report based on general knowledge about Russia and the cyber world.

I thought the most important statement in the report was :
"Disclosures through WikiLeaks did not contain any evident forgeries." In other words the item that was supposed to most effect the election was true to its core!

It will take a lot more detailed analysis than this "we assess" piece of garbage to convince me that Russia had any impact on the elections. Hillary was a loser from the get-go and that's where she finished. If the the Russians did have an impact I think we should consider ourselves lucky. We now have a chance to clean out the current over-politicized intelligence community."

Rosalyn C. said...

I confess, I too was happy when Trump won and felt in some way I had contributed. That's evidence of my involvement with hacking, according to the Intelligence Community.

Real American said...

Hillary's so terrible even the Russians can't stand her!

Gospace said...

1. So how many people here have ever watched anything on RT, Russia Today?

2.How many of you know, in person, anyone who has ever watched anything on RT?

3. How many of you know anyone who has ever been influenced by something on RT?

For me, the answer to 2 and 3 is zero, which I suspect is the same answer for everyone here as well as the answer to question 1.

Real American said...

Thanks to the Russians, America learned that Hillary was a corrupt liar and the DNC and MSM were helping her campaign!

Anonymous said...

Democrats are so set on convincing themselves that Donald Trump couldn't have legitimately won the election absent this supposed Russian malfeasance that they are setting themselves up to fail in 2018 and 2020. How many voters do Democrats honestly think made their final decision based on the hacks of the DNC or Podesta? If Hillary's own e-mail scandal wasn't decisive, why should they think an e-mail scandal at the DNC or with her surrogates were any more decisive?

This is the same loser playbook from 2000, refusing to believe the voters could have made the choice they did, only to be kicked in the pants in 2002 and 2004 because it was the wrong analysis. Yes, waiting for Bush to screw up eventually did pay off, but Democrats had to wait until 2006 and 2008 to cash in on that gamble, and have since suffered tremendously because they still have never grasped the reality of why they lost in 2000/2004, which led to the 2016 loss. The party is out-of-touch and doesn't understand a good portion of the population (i.e. the religious, the private-sector blue-collar and white-collar workers, those living in rural areas, whites, men, small-business owners, etc).

It's hard to offer an attractive political program to people who are not only not understood but looked down on by the Democrats and their media allies. Understanding why Democrats lost West Virginia starting in 2000 and figuring out how to appeal to West Virginia again will win Democrats a lot more elections than going nuts over red herrings like Russia. Sixteen years of denial has now seen what started in West Virginia (and cost Gore the presidency in 2000) spread to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the Rust Belt, costing Hillary the presidency in 2016.

Bob Boyd said...

Your next door neighbor's an asshole and always has been.
You're having an affair with a woman at work.
Your asshole neighbor discovers your affair and tells your wife.
You lose your job and your wife takes almost everything you have in the divorce, including the kids.
You tell anyone who will listen that it's all your neighbors fault.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger Harold said...
1. So how many people here have ever watched anything on RT, Russia Today?

2.How many of you know, in person, anyone who has ever watched anything on RT?

3. How many of you know anyone who has ever been influenced by something on RT?

I can answer "Yes" to 1 & 2, but that's because I have an interest in post-Soviet Russian history.

Sprezzatura said...

"Let it be transparent"

Ha!

Now you're against the Russians secretly influencing our elections.

Carry on.

Big Mike said...

@Harold, the wife and I used to routinely watch RT before we moved -- local cable doesn't carry it, alas.

We used to watch financial shows like Boom Bust (esp. Ed Harrison) and Max Keiser on the Keiser Report, which we found empirically to give better, and less misleading, information about global financial markets than we got from conventional American media sources. And sometimes we watched Larry King. The financial shows were done by Americans and displayed no particular bias.

Of course RT presents news from a Russian perspective, as one would expect, and Juliann Assange does have a show on RT that I don't think we ever watched. You get one form of propaganda from RT and another from CNN and CBS. An intelligent person can sort it out.

Rance Fasoldt said...

Just read the Intelligence Community Assessment. Still no Facts about Hacks. Let me quote Biden, "It is over."

Big Mike said...

I skimmed the report. As nearly as I can tell the case for Russia passing DNC Emails to Wikileaks goes something like (1) Vlad Putin doesn't like Hillary Clinton, (2) the Russians broke into the DNC Email system, (3) RT is a propaganda arm of the Russian government, (4) in 2013 Julian Assange entered into a contractual agreement with RT, therefore (conclusion) the Russian government was the source of the Emails for Wikileaks.

Yeah, it's thin. But keep in mind it's at least as robust as the assessment of WMD in Iraq. Oh, wait.

Steven said...

Well, I've watched RT when in a hotel with a limited selection of channels. The propaganda was pretty heavy-handed. I suspect it does a much better job informing our intelligence services about what the Russians want us to believe than actually changing what any useful number of Americans believe, and so I would like to see PRChina emulate it.

MaxedOutMama said...

There's no way the Russians wanted Trump to win the election - his energy policy is very unfortunate for them. No way. They may have assumed that he could not win, and thus might have been playing games to try to cause internal problems after Clinton's eventual victory. But they most certainly would never have tried to get Trump elected, because it is going to hurt them badly.

I have to conclude that US intelligence is very politicized.

MaxedOutMama said...

Fake intelligence news.

A sad and depressing pass. There isn't any actual evidence here.

David said...

I am fully prepared to take this seriously, but at least part of this report is crazy time. I refer to the extensive discussion of "RT" and its supposed influence. RT is, I believe, an offshoot of what used to be called "Russia Today." It is barely known in the United States, a dwarf in social media. That's evidenced in the statistics set forth in the report. Why in the world is it given such prominence in a report like this. It's ludicrous.

It's also useful to read the section on the end on "estimative language." Most striking: "Judgments are not intended to imply that we have proof that shows something to be a fact."

I remember, and it was not so long ago, when the left ridiculed the American mainstream and right wing for its supposed paranoia about Russia. And told us that we must not trust intelligence estimates.

I don't trust Russia but I do not trust American intelligence either. They have been wrong far too often. There is no doubt in my mind that Russia tries to cast doubt on Western elections. That's a given and not new informaton. That they were all in for Trump over Hillary is also possible but the case made in this memo is unconvincing,

Of course we already knew that the various disclosures were not fabricated. Podesta and Clinton never denied that and could not. It's just as plausible that they went after the Democrats because they were easy targets, given their corruption and highly irresponsible failure to use basic IT protections.

This is all going to be very damaging to Trump and the country.

tcrosse said...

So the Democrats sacrificed everything on the altar of Hillary Clinton's personal sense of entitlement, and refuse to admit it was a big mistake. So they look far and wide for whom to blame. Now it's the Russians, next it will be Ming the Merciless from the planet Mongo.

Mary Beth said...

They know it was the Russians because the "hackers" used the same malware that Russians have been known to use. That's exactly how the FBI figured out it was the North Koreans who hacked Sony, the hackers used the same "malicious hacking tools" that the North Koreans use. (Only Sony was more likely an inside job and not a hack.) Still, Obama assured us it was the North Koreans who were mad about a movie.

richard mcenroe said...

Keep in mind the same people who are absolutely certain the Russians hacked DNC are the same people who thought the Fort Lauderdale Shooter was safe to leave alone.

Michael K said...

"I don't trust Russia but I do not trust American intelligence either."

Bingo.

The whole story defies belief, except in the mendacity of the DNC.

From August to November 2012, RT ran numerous reports on alleged US election fraud and voting machine vulnerabilities, contending that US election results cannot be trusted and do not reflect the popular will.

Remember the anti-Diebold campaign from the Democrats in 2012? That propaganda effort may have been inspired, and was supported, if today’s report is credible, by Russia’s government.

Today’s report describes Communist subversion efforts exactly as conservatives have contended for decades:

By their nature, Russian influence campaigns are multifaceted and designed to be deniable because they use a mix of agents of influence, cutouts, front organizations, and false-flag operations.

This is the kind of thing conservatives were disparaged for saying for several decades.


This is old stuff. What is relatively new is the CIA-DNC alliance. It was never this open.

Birkel said...

Just so I am clear, can somebody confirm that of all the pollsters in the world it was ONLY the Russians who knew Trump would win?

If true, we should not antagonize the bastards.

Big Mike said...

@David, read my comment at 8:46. RT is the link between Julian Assange and the Russian government.

Fen said...

"the same malware that Russians have been known to use and sell to 3rd party hackers"

/fixed

Related: "CIA believes Russia behind bank heist because AK-47 was used by robbers."

Yes Virginia, the Left really is this stupid.

Fen said...

Please send help. I think my wife is a Russian spy. She guessed Podesta's password on the first try. Should I run or shelter in place?

Fen said...

Yes, his password was "password"... I'm married to a GRU goon aren't I?

Fen said...

"First it was Russia, next it will be Ming the Merciless"

Same thing. See, we assess that Ming had his watch repaired by a clockmaker. And we assess that the clockmaker's cousin's babysitter has a Russian grandfather. We also assess that Russian's have an interest in keeping accurate time.

Ergo, Ming is a Russian spy.

Drago said...

LyinPB: "From this POV, there's no reason to limit foreign governments from funding our political candidates."

Where ya been Homey?

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/18/us/clinton-says-chinese-money-did-not-influence-us-policy.html

LOL

You can't make this stuff up!

Yancey Ward said...

Trumps first act as President should be to fire the entire CIA, and then vet any rehires over the next six months. What is going on right now is a disgrace to this country, and is setting a very dangerous precedent for the future.

There is literally zero evidence in this pdf- zero! Every single bit of it is assertion and repeating of previous assertions. And in the back of all this is the ridiculous idea that the Russians preferred Trump and the Republicans over Clinton and the Democrats- the politics of oil and gas alone make that extremely unlikely. The only dimension in which it might be possible that Putin preferred Trump is that Trump hasn't attacked him on a personal basis, but I have never seen any evidence that Putin was shallow enough to let something so trivial completely counter basically everything else that matters to Russia, its government, and its people. One may as well assert that the Soviets preferred Reagan over Carter- it makes just as much sense. Given the level of evidence that has been shown to date, if someone leaked from the CIA that the CIA leadership itself was under Putin's control, it would be just as believable.

n.n said...

Didn't the Democrats invite the UN and foreign intrigue to influence the 2008 election?

To think, that left-wing [class] diversitists could project their civil and human rights violations on American citizens, and, now, they almost got away with the same crimes against America.

The Chinese spurned Obama and now they have finally cut off the DNC.

Deep Plunger and the Nigerian Phishing expedition were warning shots across the DNC's bow. Perhaps a reminder to Western Leftists that they are not Libya, Ukraine, Serbia, or even Germany, and they will not succumb to social [in]justice adventurism, and they can still influence American politics. In addition to their routine espionage, the OPM hack must have provided fertile ground to exploit Democratic leverage. Well, that and providing a dumping ground for environmentalists and the green, clean industry, and enabling the multi-trillion redistributive change economy.

I wonder if the Republicans are equally compromised.

Thus ends the twilight period of Redistribution, Suppression, and [class] Diversity.... and perhaps narrowly avoiding catastrophic anthropogenic global climate change.

David Baker said...

Accepting Clapper & Co. at face value: Who would "you" rather deal with; Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump?

Putin is a gladiator, and he didn't want to even look at harping Hillary for another four years. And I don't blame him.

tim in vermont said...

Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process,
denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.


Talk about hauling coal to Newcastle. The truth is like kryptoninte to the Clintons.

tim in vermont said...

So where is the report on Mexico's interference in the sanctity of our elections, which apparently are to be protected from true information if it hurts the Democrats.

tim in vermont said...

Nonetheless, Putin publicly indicated a preference for President-elect Trump’s stated policy to work with Russia, and pro-Kremlin figures spoke highly about what they saw as his Russia - friendly positions on Syria and Ukraine. Putin publicly contrasted the President - elect’s approach to Russia with Secretary Clinton’s “aggressive rhetoric.”

Imagine that! Russia doesn't want a war-monger who got the US involved in a multi sided proxy war in Syria intended to overthrow a Russian ally. That tears it! Now I wish I had voted for Hillary!

tim in vermont said...

Moscow most likely chose WikiLeaks because of its self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity. Disclosures through WikiLeaks did not contain any evident forgeries.

Really? LOL. This is what passes for "rigorous analysis"?

tim in vermont said...

[Russia] consistently cast President-elect Trump as the target of unfair coverage from traditional US media outlets that they claimed were subservient to a corrupt political establishment.

And they provided the facts to back up their claims... just sayin'

Big Mike said...

@Yancy, I'm going to disagree about closing down the CIA. The lead agency for detecting and countering foreign intelligence operations directed against the US is the FBI. Back in Dunya's day they had this added to their workload as a law enforcement agency. (To be fair, then-Director Mueller lobbied hard for it.) But there is a subtle difference between law enforcement, which sets out to arrest perpetrators and build cases after a crime has been committed, and a counter-intelligrnce agency, which sets out to identify and thwart activities by adversarial governments that may even be mostly legal.

This Wikileaks thing shows the problem -- the FBI made a half-hearted effort to warn the DNC (which was ignored) but seems to have focused its primary efforts on connecting the dots after the crime was committed.

There is a related problem, also created during Dubya's administration, which is the position of Doector of National Intelligence and the agency which is the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. I have no idea how large it is, but it is way bigger than the DNI and a receptionist. The present DNI, General Clapper, is a consummate bureaucratic infighter, but an arrogant dingbat otherwise. As this report, released by his agency, demonstrates.

Gojuplye said...

This report contains enough BS to fertilize the entire state of Texas.

AllenS said...

"assess" "assessed" "assessment" is a long, long way from "proof beyond a reasonable doubt".

Hagar said...

The first famous attempt by a foreign government to interfere in a U.S. election was the "Citizen Genêt Affair" in 1793, and it really has never stopped. There is nothing new about it. It comes with being a "world power," which the U.S. has been since its inception.

grackle said...

And when has the American intelligence community ever gotten anything wrong? I mean, except for the Russians getting the bomb …[etc.]

Not just wrong about the Soviets, which was only the beginning of a long series of wrong guesses, but the CIA was officially flummoxed, surprised and dumbfounded by EVERY nation that has EVER nuked up. Those nations are the UK, France, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and South Africa.

Being sometimes wrong or even mostly wrong is perhaps understandable but being wrong every time … ?

Possible explanation: No administration wants the public to be anxious about the nuclear prospects of another nation. The voters and the political opposition might expect an administration to do something about it and who needs that kind of unreasonable political pressure?

So … the CIA Director tailors the official reports to fit the preferred narrative: All quiet on the nuclear front …

And let us not forget that a disgruntled retired FBI bigshot, Mark Felt, brought down Nixon.

No agency is immune to politics. All that aside, I refuse to take seriously any report with Clapper’s name attached to it. Clapper is a known perjurer. He has lied at Obama’s bidding in the past and he’s doing it again.

http://tinyurl.com/ztterzx

http://tinyurl.com/jr5j5k8

People and entities which I do not believe on this issue: Obama, anyone connected to Obama, any Democrat, any eGOP NeverTrumper cunt, especially McCain and Graham – in fact any politician - any government agency or any news outlet. I hope I have not left anyone out.

I will await President Trump’s decision on whether this issue merits investigation and will read with interest any conclusions reached should such an investigation take place. Until then … fuck them all.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger tim in vermont said...
So where is the report on Mexico's interference in the sanctity of our elections, which apparently are to be protected from true information if it hurts the Democrats.

Wait a sec, Tim in Vermont. Are you suggesting that the three million Mexican citizens living in Cali are influencing its politics? Somebody otta get the CIA and the FBI to write a report based on that! Using newspaper clippings!

Hagar said...

It is the faux outrage I have a problem with. We try to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries all the time, and they in ours.

That said, U.S. elections are such complicated, raucuous messes that they are very difficult to interfere with to any meaningfull extent - even for well organized and financed natives - and given the record of the results of previously known attempts, it may be doubtful that Putin would have made any serious try at it this time as opposed to dabbling around the edges and having a bit of fun embarrassing Hillary!, etc.
Or not at all. Assange may be a dubious source of the truth, but so is Mssrs. Clapper, Brennan, et al.

ga6 said...

don't believe a word they say...

Chuck said...

How depressing! So much misinformation, despite the intel services trying to make themselves clear.

See how many people -- Trumpkins -- on this comments page insist that the CIA/FBI simply can't be trusted at all? Because they don't like it that the general tenor of the report takes some shine off the Trump electoral win. (They liked the FBI back when they were investigating Hillary, of course. And they hated -- rightly -- Julian Assange when he was endangering American intelligence assets.)

And it only requires a television set turned to MSNBC, or a radio tuned to NPR, to find all kinds of people talking about how there is now "proof" that "the Russians hacked the election." Which as demonstrably false.

Here is the central finding of the report: While Russians are very likely to have been involved in the process/crime of exposing the Democrats' emails, etc.; the U.S. intel services say, "We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The US Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze US political processes or US public opinion."

That's it. There is no proof, and there never was even an investigation, as to whether anything at all done by the Russians had ANY impact on the election.

So, yeah, if someone wants to do some more studies on cyber-crime and cyber-warfare, like the numerous other foreign government hacks of the last 5-10 years, have at it.

But quit talking about any "hacking" of the 2016 election.

mtrobertslaw said...

And this report is the work product of the best and brightest of our intelligence community? Oh my God, we're doomed!

walter said...

Grackle's links:

DNI Clapper Should Be Fired And Prosecuted For Lying To Congress About NSA Spying

James Clapper lied to Congess when asked if NSA is collecting data on Americans

(and..more helpful than tinyurl is http://www.easyhyperlinks.com/)

Robert Cook said...

"See how many people -- Trumpkins -- on this comments page insist that the CIA/FBI simply can't be trusted at all?"

I'm hardly a Trumpkin--heck, I wasn't even a Clintonite--and I don't believe claims of criminal culpability of any entity made by the CIA/FBI can be trusted beyond what they present in the way of documented fact. Speculation and surmise do not suffice. Given our country's long history of attacking other countries and starting wars based on surmise and lies, the government has no claim on our trust or good faith in their integrity or certainty. (We invaded Iraq on the basis of just such lies.) In our judicial system, we supposedly presume the innocence of the accused, until evidence presented in court convinces the jury of the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. That's the ideal, anyway, and the reality too often makes a hash of that. But, my point: we must apply the same principal to any accusations made by the government against any foreign nations or entities: if they are unable or unwilling to put the evidence before the public for us to appraise, then the charges must be considered invalid, or at least, unprovable, and therefore dismissed.

Robert Cook said...

Two former intelligence officers (NSA and CIA) weigh in.

Drago said...

The former Soviets and now just plain old Russians have been involved in our political processes since the 1920's thru their front groups.

They aren't the only ones and the US itself involves itself in the internal politics of other nations and has done so for quite some time.

The funniest part of the report is the discussion of the Russian support for Occupy Wall Street and the anti-fracking movement.

Duh. Peas in a pod philosophically.

The Putin and his Russian pals are probably sitting back right now laughing their arses off as they are getting full credit for the 2016 election for the simple and only reason that the dems are desperate to find a non-policy/non-democrat reason for their "shocking" (to many) loss.

Putin and his gang are getting oodles of credit where none is deserved simply because John Podesta couldn't muster up the wherewithal to generate a competent password and then fell for the oldest phishing scam there is! "The Party of Science"! LOL

I would write more at this time but my "handlers" have specifically told me to limit my input. A directive to which I replied "Da, Tovarich!"

Drago said...

Robert Cook: "I'm hardly a Trumpkin--heck, I wasn't even a Clintonite--and I don't believe claims of criminal culpability of any entity made by the CIA/FBI can be trusted beyond what they present in the way of documented fact."

A wise policy which should be extended to specious claims made by left-wing hacks against the US Government as well.

Seriously.

Drago said...

"lifelong republican" Chuck is all over this evidence free and supposition filled "report", the conclusions of which have been leaked for over a month now by obama run intelligence operatives to left wing media organs.

In other words, "lifelong republican" Chuck catnip.

I'm sure the "brilliant" Rachel Maddow will have more to say about this that "lifelong republican" Chuck will want us all to ponder deeply.

I'm still waiting for Clapper to apologize for his perjury before the House committee re: spying on US citizens.

D.D. Driver said...

Is it just coincidence that the "trumped up" allegations of election meddling using the internet comes at the exact point in history in which the CIA and the FBI are pushing for new internet surveillance powers?

What better way to get the natural opponents to the legislation from the left to fall in line?

grackle said...

Thanks, walter, for that easyhyperlink URL. For years I tried to link to URLs and it never worked for me. Finally, I found the tiny URL page but a hyperlink would be much better. I cannot preview my comments, either. When I try it only takes me to a blank “error” page. I think it may have something to do with my Google ID.

So here goes a test link

grackle said...

Hooray! It works! But I still cannot preview my comments. When I click the "preview" button it takes me to a page with 3 words and a number: “Bad Request Error 400.”

Robert Cook said...

Blogger grackle said...
Hooray! It works! But I still cannot preview my comments. When I click the 'preview' button it takes me to a page with 3 words and a number: 'Bad Request Error 400.'”


This is a known Blogger error. It started happening to me a couple of months ago. It was a week before someone in the Blogger support page mentioned that one could avoid the 400 Error and post comments if one didn't preview the comment before posting. It doesn't affect everyone, apparently, but for those who are affected, there hasn't been a fix yet.

Joe said...

The CIA has, and is still, lying about Syria and Libya. There is concrete public evidence that the CIA collaborated with people who were and/or are now part of ISIS/ISIL. I believe the CIA has been arming ISIS and ISIL. Once again, the CIA are acting against the interests of the Unites States and should be considered traitors.

Joe said...

We also know that James Clapper committed perjury. He should be recalled to active duty and court-martialed. Trump shouldn't simply fire most of the CIA, but tear back the curtain of that cesspool and pursue criminal charges against many.

hstad said...


Intelligence Leaders Claim Russians "Interfered" With 2016 US Elections . . .
. . . And Yet Clapper Sez No Evidence Russia Altered the Vote Count....

Chuck commented, ".....See how many people -- Trumpkins -- on this comments page insist that the CIA/FBI simply can't be trusted at all? Because they don't like it that the general tenor of the report takes some shine off the Trump electoral win...." Jackels like "Chuck", who views himself as "Republican", just can't get past the election of Trump. Sorry "Chuck", Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted to Congress Thursday that there is no evidence that Russia in any way altered the actual ballot counts or election results through a cyberattack or intrusion. "....."They did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort," Clapper said under questioning from Chairman John McCain (R.-Ariz.) Later in the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark) asked Clapper, “the intelligence community says, ‘It would be extremely difficult for someone – including a nation-state actor to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyberattack or intrusion,’ and you say to that earlier today as well that we have no evidence that vote tallies were altered or manipulated in anyway?”

“That’s correct,” Clapper said.

Of course "Chuck" in his own biased way concludes that these remarks "...takes the shine off the Trump electoral win...?" Truly astounding common sense from a self-professed political genuis!



hstad said...

"Chuck" one additional piece of information which should make you STFU and forever prove you are a Trump hater.

According to an article overnight from Sputniknews.com regarding the highly-anticipated declassified US intelligence report information included in the report was published in 2012. The intelligence report was supposed to prove that Russia supported Donald Trump in the recent US election for President,

The annex in the [declassified] report contained so-called evidence from Russia Today (RT) that was compiled in December 2012, right after the reelection of Barack Obama.

The report focuses on television shows and interviews that took place four years before Trump was elected, and well before he was even a politician.
In Annex A of the report, intelligence agencies claim that “Kremlin’s TV Seeks To Influence Politics, Fuel Discontent in US.” Buried at the bottom of that page is a note stating, “This annex was originally published on 11 December 2012 by the Open Source Center, now the Open Source Enterprise.”

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections Intelligence Report the report notes that two RT shows, ‘Breaking the Set’ and ‘Truthseeker’ focused on criticism of US. The problem is, both of these shows were off air before the 2016 election season began.

Susan said...

Ming the Merciless did open his closet to our Hillary and dressed her in his finest garb throughout the campaign.

Coincidence?

I assess not.