Obama orders review of election-season hacking

[rooster59]

Obama orders review of election-season hacking

KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence officials to conduct a broad review of election-season cyberattacks, including the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign and raised fresh concerns about Russia's meddling in U.S. elections, the White House said Friday.

 

The review, led by intelligence agencies, will be a "deep dive" into a possible pattern of increased "malicious cyber activity" timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. The review will look at the tactics, targets, key actors and the U.S. government's response to the recent email hacks, as well as incidents reported in past elections, he said.

 

The president ordered up the report earlier this week and asked that it be completed before he leaves office next month, Schultz said.

 

"The president wanted this done under his watch because he takes it very seriously," he said. "We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections."

 

U.S. intelligence officials have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic officials' email accounts in an attempt to interfere with the presidential campaign. The Washington Post reported Friday that the CIA has concluded that Russia aimed specifically to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

 

The Post said the CIA presented its assessment to senators last week. The newspaper's report cited anonymous U.S. officials who were briefed on that closed-door meeting.

 

Trump's transition team was dismissive of the hacking claims Friday night, releasing a statement referring to intelligence agents as "the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."

 

The Kremlin has rejected the hacking accusations.

 

In the months leading up to the election, email accounts of Democratic Party officials and a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide were breached, emails leaked and embarrassing and private emails posted online. Many Democrats believe the hackings benefited Trump's bid. Trump has downplayed the possibility that Russia was involved.

 

Schultz said the president sought the probe as a way of improving U.S. defense against cyberattacks and was not intending to question the legitimacy of Trump's victory.

 

"This is not an effort to challenge the outcome of the election," Schultz said.

 

Obama's move comes as Democratic lawmakers have been pushing Obama to declassify more information about Russia's role, fearing that Trump, who has promised a warmer relationship with Moscow, may not prioritize the issue.

 

Given Trump's statements, "there is an added urgency to the need for a thorough review before President Obama leaves office next month," said Rep.

 

Adam Schiff, D-Calif., senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee. If the administration doesn't respond "forcefully" to such actions, "we can expect to see a lot more of this in the near future," he said.

 

The White House said it would make portions of the report public and would brief lawmakers and relevant state officials on the findings.

 

It emphasized the report would not focus solely on Russian operations or hacks involving Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Democratic National Committee accounts. Schultz stressed officials would be reviewing incidents going back to the 2008 presidential campaign, when the campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Obama were breached by hackers.

 

Intelligence officials have said Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks four years later.

 

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-12-10

[craigt3365]

Trump is a disgrace:

 

[dunroaming]

The investigation is looking at Russian hacking going back as far as 2008 so it is not specifically about the election, however that is obviously the focus.  Given the choice obviously Putin would sooner have a fool as POTUS then someone switched on and savvy.  No brainer then that he helps Trump.

[craigt3365]

2 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

The investigation is looking at Russian hacking going back as far as 2008 so it is not specifically about the election, however that is obviously the focus.  Given the choice obviously Putin would sooner have a fool as POTUS then someone switched on and savvy.  No brainer then that he helps Trump.

What a sad comment.  But you may be right!

[elgordo38]

Just came across on Channel News Asia that the CIA has proved that Russia interfered in the election process. I guess the story will end there. 

[dunroaming]

1 minute ago, elgordo38 said:

Just came across on Channel News Asia that the CIA has proved that Russia interfered in the election process. I guess the story will end there. 

 

Yes it's been confirmed in the UK as well.  No surprise though.

[craigt3365]

31 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Just came across on Channel News Asia that the CIA has proved that Russia interfered in the election process. I guess the story will end there. 

Not so sure the story will end there.  But with Trump. Who knows! LOL

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I think the charges have been Trumped up!

[rabas]

1 hour ago, elgordo38 said:

Just came across on Channel News Asia that the CIA has proved that Russia interfered in the election process. I guess the story will end there. 

Just saw the same, according to the Washington Post (the Washington Post?) an ultra top secret CIA study that cannot be released to anyone just concluded that the Russian's did some hacking during the election cycle.

 

Never mind Obama oversaw the theft of the entire Federal workforce's personnel information, 21.5 million federal employees, applicants, contractors and their families, (2015, twice) and did not even notify them for months. Funny, WaPost did not know. 

Edited December 10, 2016 by rabas

[dunroaming]

17 minutes ago, rabas said:

Just saw the same, according to the Washington Post (the Washington Post?) an ultra top secret CIA study that cannot be released to anyone just concluded that the Russian's did some hacking during the election cycle.

 

Never mind Obama oversaw the theft of the entire Federal workforce's personnel information, 21.5 million federal employees, applicants, contractors and their families, (2015, twice) and did not even notify them for months. Funny, WaPost did not know. 

 

And here come the defenders.  let's try and spin it to something against Obama.  Can't hear a word against their boy Trump.

[lungbing]

Would a review have been ordered if Hillary had won?

[dunroaming]

2 minutes ago, lungbing said:

Would a review have been ordered if Hillary had won?

 

As I said the review goes back to 2008 so yes it would have.  It has been called by Obama to expose the Russians hacking which is much bigger than just Hillary's emails.  It is a serious security breach and is rightly being investigated.

[rabas]

14 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

 

33 minutes ago, rabas said:

Just saw the same, according to the Washington Post (the Washington Post?) an ultra top secret CIA study that cannot be released to anyone just concluded that the Russian's did some hacking during the election cycle.

 

Never mind Obama oversaw the theft of the entire Federal workforce's personnel information, 21.5 million federal employees, applicants, contractors and their families, (2015, twice) and did not even notify them for months. Funny, WaPost did not know. 

 

And here come the defenders.  let's try and spin it to something against Obama.  Can't hear a word against their boy Trump.

 

 

So sorry, not a Trump fan.

 

But I so dislike being lied to, and it been constant from all sides for too long.

[dunroaming]

5 minutes ago, rabas said:

 

So sorry, not a Trump fan.

 

But I so dislike being lied to, and it been constant from all sides for too long.

 

Now I am in total agreement with that!

[craigt3365]

1 minute ago, rabas said:

Well, that's not good.

 

But which is the greater evil, the Russians spying on us or our own government hiding the truth from us?

(I can tell you what history says)

 

I did like Clapper though, when asked about massive attacks on the US in the last few years

he seem unconcerned saying, "Well, we're pretty good at these things ourselves".

 

The Russian's publicly disclosed what was hacked.  That's not good. As for hiding the truth, what exactly are you talking about?

[rabas]

3 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

6 minutes ago, rabas said:

Well, that's not good.

 

But which is the greater evil, the Russians spying on us or our own government hiding the truth from us?

(I can tell you what history says)

 

I did like Clapper though, when asked about massive attacks on the US in the last few years

he seem unconcerned saying, "Well, we're pretty good at these things ourselves".

 

The Russian's publicly disclosed what was hacked.  That's not good. As for hiding the truth, what exactly are you talking about?

 

I do not know of any Russian public disclosures of what they hacked, do you?

 

And sorry,  the Kremlin is not high on my rather short list of credible sources.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.   Stay on topic, please.   The topic is about a review of election hacking.  

[craigt3365]

1 minute ago, rabas said:

 

I do not know of any Russian public disclosures of what they hacked, do you?

 

And sorry,  the Kremlin is not high on my rather short list of credible sources.

Supposedly, it was done via Wiki Leaks.  Easy to Google this.

 

My question was what truths are the US government hiding from us?  But yes, the Kremlin is not a credible source of info! LOL

[dunroaming]

17 minutes ago, rabas said:

Well, that's not good.

 

But which is the greater evil, the Russians spying on us or our own government hiding the truth from us?

(I can tell you what history says)

 

I did like Clapper though, when asked about massive attacks on the US in the last few years

he seem unconcerned saying, "Well, we're pretty good at these things ourselves".

 

 

The government hiding the truth from you?  Well you would be hard pushed to find any government in the world that doesn't lie to their people.  To expect the truth from politicians is a big stretch, especially in the days of spin.  I guess one of the biggest well known examples of this was Bush and Blair over Iraq.  Politics is a dirty business and will continue to be so.

[HappyinNE]

The White House said it would make portions of the report public and would brief lawmakers and relevant state officials on the findings.  Yep here we go again portions of the report.  They can not release the whole thing and increase their creditably.  By the way were any of the E mails false or were they true ones that showed what was happening by those who were trying to get us to vote for them.  Of course what they say in public is a bit different.

[rabas]

9 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

 

The government hiding the truth from you?  Well you would be hard pushed to find any government in the world that doesn't lie to their people.  To expect the truth from politicians is a big stretch, especially in the days of spin.  I guess one of the biggest well known examples of this was Bush and Blair over Iraq.  Politics is a dirty business and will continue to be so.

 

We agree again, though I would not single out Iraq as the only example. Politics is all dirty and just gets dirtier globally.

 

If you want an independent view of Iraq though, take a look at a map of the middle east and see what all surrounds Iran. 100 % surrounded by who's forces and allies? Iran has always been the only country in the region strong enough to destabilize  the middle east (for their own profit), and always supported terrorism.

 

But you are right, where was the truth?

[Scott]

This is the final warning to stay on the topic of the review of election season hacking.   Continued off-topic posting will earn suspensions.  

[Silurian]

If Russia interfered in the election then this should totally delegitimize the election and the result. Outside foreign influence into the US election should not be tolerated. Comrade Donald will enter the office based on an election that has been manipulated by Russia which undermines his legitimacy to be there.

 

This information on election manipulation should have become public as soon as it was confirmed and not sat on until after the election.

[rabas]

17 minutes ago, Silurian said:

If Russia interfered in the election then this should totally delegitimize the election and the result. Outside foreign influence into the US election should not be tolerated. Comrade Donald will enter the office based on an election that has been manipulated by Russia which undermines his legitimacy to be there.

 

This information on election manipulation should have become public as soon as it was confirmed and not sat on until after the election.

 

Please trace for me all foreign contributions to Clinton's campaign including those through the Clinton foundation from foreign agents, including secret, hidden, or lied about sources.

 

In 1974, a prohibition of all contributions from foreign nationals  was incorporated into the Federal Election Campaign Act (the FECA), giving the Federal Election Commission (FEC) jurisdiction over its enforcement and interpretation. The spirit of the law was simple: “prevent foreign influence (via money) in US policy and politics.”

 

Thank-you.

[Silurian]

13 minutes ago, rabas said:

 

Please trace for me all foreign contributions to Clinton's campaign including those through the Clinton foundation from foreign agents, including secret, hidden, or lied about sources.

 

In 1974, a prohibition of all contributions from foreign nationals  was incorporated into the Federal Election Campaign Act (the FECA), giving the Federal Election Commission (FEC) jurisdiction over its enforcement and interpretation. The spirit of the law was simple: “prevent foreign influence (via money) in US policy and politics.”

 

Thank-you.

 

Fine. Invalidate both sides and start over again with new candidates. I am okay with that.

 

[mopar71]

Election hacking would have been harmless if the hacked side didn't have any harmful secrets in the first place. 

[Credo]

It wasn't that one side had secrets in the first place.   The indications are that the hacking was widespread, but that only the information that would hurt one side was released.   

[elliss]

6 hours ago, lungbing said:

Would a review have been ordered if Hillary had won?

 

      No way .

  Democracy , the people have spoken . get on with it.

                 

                         

[bendejo]

Obama had to do it because next guy sure as hell won't.

 

I'm waiting to see how the Trumpeteers reconcile their idol's pro-Russia stance.  Will it be a marriage made in heaven for the US fascists and the patriotic Russians?  But what is the ultimate goal, a chain of Trump hotels and golf courses in Russia?  On January 20th 2017 American interests will officially be pushed aside to the further the fortunes of someone who is already (supposedly) a billionaire.

 

As Lenin said "the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."  Soviet communism may be dead, but there is still some validity there.

 

 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

If Russia interfered in the election then this should totally delegitimize the election and the result. Outside foreign influence into the US election should not be tolerated. Comrade Donald will enter the office based on an election that has been manipulated by Russia which undermines his legitimacy to be there.
 
This information on election manipulation should have become public as soon as it was confirmed and not sat on until after the election.

What a silly post.

No one held a gun to voters heads. They all supposedly made an "informed" decision.