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Senate: Obama officials hamstrung by Russia election attack
The Associated Press ^ | February 6, 2020 | By MARY CLARE JALONICK and CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

Posted on 02/06/2020 11:16:20 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

The Obama administration was ill-prepared to handle and failed to respond effectively to Russian interference during the 2016 election, according to a bipartisan congressional report released Thursday. It noted officials feared getting caught up in a heavily politicized environment and undermining public confidence in the electoral process.

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report said the U.S. government was “not well-postured” to counter Russian election interference, adding Russia’s cyberactivities did not cease despite high-level warnings of potential retaliation.

Sen. Richard Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report found the Obama administration in 2016 struggled to determine an appropriate response as it became aware of Russian activities.

“Frozen by ‘paralysis of analysis,’ hamstrung by constraints both real and perceived, Obama officials debated courses of action without truly taking one,” said Burr, a North Carolina Republican, noting many of their concerns were valid. “However, Obama officials made decisions that limited their options, including preventing internal information-sharing and siloing cyber and geopolitical threats.”

The committee noted most Obama administration officials interviewed in the investigation said they had first learned about the Russian operation to steal emails from the Democratic National Committee from the media. The initial reaction of administration officials and members of the intelligence community was that Russia’s activity “fell within the bounds of traditional espionage” and was not understood at that point to be part of a broader campaign, according to the report.

Five GOP senators on the panel wrote in an addendum that the report “exposes in great detail the Obama administration’s inept response to Russia’s persistent and complex campaign to influence and interfere in the most recent U.S. presidential election.” They wrote that concerns about undermining confidence in the election “do not excuse the administration’s failures.”

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: election2016; russia; senate; witchhunt
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To: BobL

I think this has always been fake news....


21 posted on 02/06/2020 11:30:53 AM PST by hsmomx3
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To: Berosus

It’s just so much more “If the media says it, it must be true” bullshit. Just like “Hunter did nothing wrong, that whole story has been debunked!” Really? When? “Because we say so.” It’s getting thin.


22 posted on 02/06/2020 11:32:22 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Now we know what Obama meant by being “More flexible” with Russia..you scratch my back and I will scratch yours..help Hillary won and I will do whatever you want


23 posted on 02/06/2020 11:32:59 AM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: wastoute
"“...they first learned THE LIE about Russian interference from the media...”. There. Fixed it. Remember the download speeds? They weren’t “hacked” they were pilfered. And not by “Russians”."

you are correct.

This whole dialogue requires that you accept as absolute truth the pseudo-fact that that the Russians hacked the DNC Server. Since they never proved that and it is extremely unlikely to be true the whole "Russia Interfered in our election and will do it again" narrative belongs in the Fairy Tale section of your local library.

24 posted on 02/06/2020 11:34:12 AM PST by InterceptPoint (Ted, you finally endorsed.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Post-impeachment pivot by the Dems.
Trump is STILL illegitimate, but now it’s Russia’s fault


25 posted on 02/06/2020 11:35:52 AM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Russians should be more like Mexicans.

Mexicans never interfere in our elections based on what I’ve read.


26 posted on 02/06/2020 11:36:44 AM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: shelterguy

On Oct. 7, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement on behalf of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The USIC is made up of 16 agencies, in addition to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”


27 posted on 02/06/2020 11:37:18 AM PST by griswold3 (Democratic Socialism is Slavery by Mob Rule)
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To: BobL

Yeah, what happened to the scandal free Obama years story line?


28 posted on 02/06/2020 11:37:35 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Time to up our FR Monthlies by 5-10%. You'll < hardly miss it and it will help.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

A lot of words that mean ONLY ONE THING

BS


29 posted on 02/06/2020 11:41:01 AM PST by Maris Crane
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Ill prepared?? Ebola said it was unpossible.


30 posted on 02/06/2020 11:41:39 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: PGR88

I keep seeing FB adds for Napoleon on the Hudson, so it must be kosher.


31 posted on 02/06/2020 11:44:05 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: The Toll
"Can we get the FBI to Waterboard Bloomberg the crap he’s pulling?"

And Soros.

32 posted on 02/06/2020 11:45:01 AM PST by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne)
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To: wastoute; little jeremiah; a little elbow grease
excerpt from the piece:

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report said the U.S. government was “not well-postured” to counter Russian election interference, adding Russia’s cyberactivities did not cease despite high-level warnings of potential retaliation.

Sen. Richard Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report found the Obama administration in 2016 struggled to determine an appropriate response as it became aware of Russian activities.

“Frozen by ‘paralysis of analysis,’ hamstrung by constraints both real and perceived, Obama officials debated courses of action without truly taking one,” said Burr, a North Carolina Republican, noting many of their concerns were valid. “However, Obama officials made decisions that limited their options, including preventing internal information-sharing and siloing cyber and geopolitical threats.”

The committee noted most Obama administration officials interviewed in the investigation said they had first learned about the Russian operation to steal emails from the Democratic National Committee from the media. The initial reaction of administration officials and members of the intelligence community was that Russia’s activity “fell within the bounds of traditional espionage” and was not understood at that point to be part of a broader campaign, according to the report.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Burr still pushing "official investigation" of Russia Russia Russia months after mueller "proved" there was NO such thing as russian intervention.

as POTUS would say: "it's all BS" Burr is a Deep Stater & part of the cover up, imo

33 posted on 02/06/2020 11:45:18 AM PST by thinden
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So, if we are to believe this report and not assume that this was allowed on purpose, we have a situation in which the Obama administration and all of its intelligence people completely bungled the issue of the Russkies interfering in our election...

...and, of course, that naturally means that Trump colluded with the Russians to do this.

WTeverlivingF is wrong with people??? This was transparent from the very beginning, starting with the fact that a coldly analytical Vladimir Putin would NEVER have wanted DJT to become the POTUS. He was advocating unlimited expansion of our oil and gas production - which would be (and has been) disastrous for the Russian economy - and a big military build-up (which would put a huge strain on their economy. These are the same twin pillars of the Reagan policy that bankrupted the USSR, and Putin was there to see it happen with his own eyes. For someone like him, who stated that it was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th Century that the USSR was destroyed, to want a reply of the 1980s is simply a fantasy. Compare and contrast to Hillary Clinton’s stated policy of continuing Obama’s attempts to hamstring the fossil fuels industry, and no mention of building up our defenses, and the choice for Russia was very plain and very easy.

Even Mueller and his rabidly anti-Trump, hard-Left crew of unethical prosecutors couldn’t find didly on Trump or his campaign. Why? Because there was no there, there.

So, even if we buy this explanation, it doesn’t explain the subsequent actions of the Obama administration and the Democrats - the entirety of the last 3 years has been nothing more or less than a coup against not just Trump or our government, but against the American people and their choice for POTUS. This is sedition, and the punishment for it is life imprisonment.


34 posted on 02/06/2020 11:45:51 AM PST by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Obama camp battening down the hatches before the coming storm.


35 posted on 02/06/2020 11:47:24 AM PST by LIConFem (I will no longer accept the things I cannot change. it's time to change the things I cannot accept.)
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To: BenLurkin

See, if a Russian citizen buys Facebook ads, that’s interference. If Ebola tells Isrealis straight up to vote against Netanyahu, that’s statecraft.


36 posted on 02/06/2020 11:48:41 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: wastoute

“Those files were walked out on a thumb drive. No other way. The people claiming otherwise are lying....”


This is the literal truth. The speed with which the data was copied was too fast for anything but a flash/thumb drive to have accomplished. I remember reading an article on this issue written by a guy who knows all about computers and software, because he has run several businesses in those areas. He stated that if anyone (Russian or not) was right across the street and had the highest speed data port possible, it could not have been done - let alone from thousands of miles and dozens of intervening computers and data ports away. Nope, it HAD to be an inside job. My money is on Seth Rich having done it, but we will simply never know.


37 posted on 02/06/2020 11:50:26 AM PST by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: Nuke From Orbit

I can’t take credit for that.

That was coined by Col. Kurt Schlicter who writes at TownHall


38 posted on 02/06/2020 11:51:38 AM PST by digger48
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To: Oldeconomybuyer; All

Obama said, in response to comments then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made. “No serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections.”


39 posted on 02/06/2020 11:53:17 AM PST by areukiddingme1 (areukiddingme1 is a synonym for a Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer and tired of liberal BS.))
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To: digger48

Schlichter


40 posted on 02/06/2020 11:54:03 AM PST by digger48
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