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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDirector of National Intelligence Dan Coats: Russia is Attempting to Influence US Midterms
Russia is attempting to influence the midterm elections in the United States in November as well as divide the transatlantic alliance, US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned at a meeting co-hosted by the Atlantic Council in Normandy, France, on June 8.
Coats said Russia had already undertaken an unprecedented influence campaign to interfere in the US electoral and political process in 2016. Russia, Coats pointed out, has also meddled in France, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Ukraine. "It is 2018, and we continue to see Russian targeting of American society in ways that could affect our midterm elections," he said.
Coats comments are aligned with assessments by the US intelligence community and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who in his previous role as director of the Central Intelligence Agency warned that he expected Russia to attempt to disrupt the midterm elections.
Coats spoke at a meeting jointly hosted by the Atlantic Council, Le Figaro, and the Tocqueville Foundation in Normandy, France.
Coats said Russia had conducted cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns with the intent of degrading our democratic values and weakening our alliances.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/director-of-national-intelligence-dan-coats-russia-is-attempting-to-influence-us-midterms-divide-transatlantic-alliance
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)Question is...WHAT are you guys doing to protect us? That's your job. Please and thank you.
StrictlyRockers
(3,861 posts)n/t
Bleacher Creature
(11,258 posts)He could be fired at a moment's notice for saying such a thing.
bigtree
(86,024 posts)...think how frustrating it must be for this neocon to be trying to manage an offense against the Russians while his boss is openly colluding with them.
Link to tweet
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)Yup, tha sounds a lot like a disinfo campaign alright.
Putin's destruction of our 2 Party system is proving harder than anticipated .
It appears, with our recent Primaries, the Democratic Party isn't the cakewalk the GOP was.
Putin will strengthen his billionaire funded destruction of the Democratic Party, thru Money & our billionaire owned Media messaging by using every tool he did in 2016.
We are the great Democratic Party of ALL people & we are no one's fools.
We'll call out & crush the Party of Vladimer Putin in 2018, whatever disguise it appears in.
Bye Vlad
pecosbob
(7,551 posts)their opposition to Citizens United and their proposals to muzzle the billionaires.
My solutions include public financing of elections, banning of the use of personal wealth in elections and eight year term limits for both the Senate and the House.
I am a registered Democratic Party voter and my only goal here is to move the conversational goalposts to the left and back toward reality. Anyone counting on the mainstream corporate media to do this for us is a fool.
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)Beyond noteworthy: Coats could not be describing in the last sentence more exactly BOTH Trump/GOP and Putin's shared tactics and motives.
world wide wally
(21,762 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,740 posts)pecosbob
(7,551 posts)We (our government, in our names) have doing this stuff for as long as I've been alive, and I'm pretty old. That doesn't make it any less galling when somone turns the tables on us.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Response to RandySF (Original post)
pecosbob This message was self-deleted by its author.
blue-wave
(4,380 posts)why would Russia want to do this?
It's time to hit back. Maybe a shutdown of their entire internet system and a few strategic industries for a while? Hurt Donnie's Uncle Vlad in the pocket book. It's the only thing Russian (well, and American) Oligarchs understand.
pecosbob
(7,551 posts)didn't we (and the Israelis) do that sort of thing to the Iranians a few years ago? Of course, if our government did we would likely never hear about it and the Russians sure wouldn't talk about any vulnerabilities they have.
blue-wave
(4,380 posts)that it was done to the Iranians a while ago.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Why is he just bringing it up now?