Obama Was Briefed On Russian Hacking But Did Nothing

Weekly Standard ^ | 3:45 PM, DEC 13, 2016 | By MICHAEL WARREN

[drewh]

In the extensive report on the massive Russian-backed operation to hack American political and government severs—including a successful hack of the Democratic National Committee's server—the paper reveals that President Barack Obama had been "briefed regularly" on Russia's effort to target servers at the State Department, the White House, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Here's the Times:

Mr. Obama was briefed regularly on all this, but he made a decision that many in the White House now regret: He did not name Russians publicly, or issue sanctions. There was always a reason: fear of escalating a cyberwar, and concern that the United States needed Russia's cooperation in negotiations over Syria.

"We'd have all these circular meetings," one senior State Department official said, "in which everyone agreed you had to push back at the Russians and push back hard. But it didn't happen."

So the Russians escalated again — breaking into systems not just for espionage, but to publish or broadcast what they found, known as "doxing" in the cyberworld.

It was a brazen change in tactics, moving the Russians from espionage to influence operations. In February, 2014 they broadcast an intercepted phone call between Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state who handles Russian affairs and has a contentious relationship with Mr. Putin, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the United States ambassador to Ukraine. Ms. Nuland was heard describing a little-known American effort to broker a deal in Ukraine, then in political turmoil.

[Chickensoup]

Lies lies lies.

[bkopto]

So the Weakly Standard is throwing their lot in with the Russian Hacker meme? That’s all I need to know about where the Weakly Standard is coming from.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“The leaks indicted the Democrat apparat.

That’s the thing they’re fuming about-—being outed. “

Ah....life is good these days....... : )

[bboop]

RedFreedom - I’ve been thinking that too. This must be what it was like to be a Russian citizen under the Communists, with Pravda pumping out puke every day and the citizens making jokes about the ‘faux news.’ I’m thrilled to be able to get international news - Canada and the UK often nail OUR news when we’re getting muck. Disgusting.

[Theo]

“Russian hacking”? Word is it was a leak from someone on the inside, not a hack. A “leak” and a “hack” are not the same thing ...

[Grampa Dave]

Any intel service for any modern country tries to get info from wherever they can from allies and foes.

If they don’t, they are not doing their jobs.

Clinton as SOS and afterwards with the DNC made it really easy. So easy a middle schooler with a smartphone or IPad could have got into their servers and systems due to the user’s lazy passwords and lack of security.

[Grampa Dave]

This is another excellent example of why to never read anything from these Never Trump losers in life.

[Just mythoughts]

“Russian hacking”? Word is it was a leak from someone on the inside, not a hack. A “leak” and a “hack” are not the same thing ...

Hillry and her supporters and some in Congress do not know the difference.

[GOPJ]

Dems hate being ‘outed’ - - we need to do it more often.

[GOPJ]

Assange dropped DNC emails exposing the racism, the hate and the lies within the DNC. 10 Democrat officials have resigned over these, to date, including the DNC head AND her replacement.

WHOA! Those ARE the high points...

[GOPJ]

Assange dropped DNC emails exposing the racism, the hate and the lies within the DNC. 10 Democrat officials have resigned over these, to date, including the DNC head AND her replacement.

WHOA! Those ARE the high points...

[Liz]

Too bad the NYT and the DC/Post didn’t “notice.”

[Amish with an attitude]

Vacations, golf and unconstitutional Executive orders seemed to be his priorities.

[WENDLE]

What would he do? NUKE Russia. This is such a joke. First there is no proof of ANY involvement by Russia — ZERO but let us assume there was. Did you know that the Obama government declared cyber war on Russia? What the hell was this ?http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/obama-declares-war-on-russia/
We can declare such a war but Russia just sits there? This is silliness.
Why the hell would we TELL THEM?
But now that we did— just get ready.

[Liz]

THIS JUST IN: Behind closed doors in 2012, Obama's hand-picked NATO rep, Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a classified briefing, that Russia was violating the INF treaty by developing and testing a new ground-based cruise missile.

The Obama administration didn’t tell the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s political body, about the violations until January 2014....... and didn’t disclose them publicly until July 2014.

=============================================

Obama was supporting the Russians then...but now that Hillary lost and needs a legal crutch to overturn the election......the Russians are our enemy.

[stephenjohnbanker]

lol....I live for it.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“Obama was supporting the Russians then...but now that Hillary lost and needs a legal crutch to overturn the election......the Russians are our enemy. “

An inconvenient truth..

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.