The Mueller report provides new details about Russia’s interference in the U. S. in 2016. Here’s an overview of what happened.
The recent publication of the Mueller report provided more details about the extent of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election – and is creating a new sense of urgency around the question of what the U. S. is doing to prevent another such attack. Last week, President Donald Trump said that he did not broach the topic on a lengthy call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters “we didn’t discuss it.”
But Director of National Security Dan Coats, in a briefing to the Senate intelligence committee in January, warned that America’s adversaries “probably already are looking to the 2020 US elections,” and that they “almost certainly will use online influence operations to try to weaken democratic institutions, undermine US alliances and partnerships, and shape policy outcomes in the United States and elsewhere.”
The Trump administration in early 2018 established a designated information-sharing center for election infrastructure, and Congress approved $380 million to be disbursed to states for election security. But most cyber experts agree that U. S. election infrastructure remains vulnerable. Here’s a brief overview of what we know about what happened the last time around.
The recent publication of the Mueller report provided more details about the extent of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed today after meeting with the FBI that the Russians hacked into two counties’ supervisor of elections networks. Such revelations are creating a new sense of urgency around the question of what the United States is doing to prevent another such attack. President Donald Trump said he did not broach the topic on a lengthy call last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters “we didn’t discuss it.”
But U. S. intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that they expect Russia to attempt to meddle in the 2020 election. And in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today in Sochi, Russia, U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he made clear that “interference in American elections is unacceptable. If the Russians were to engage in that in 2020, it would put our relationship in an even worse place than it has been.”
Here’s a brief overview of what we know about what happened the last time around.
The Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Kremlin-linked organization in St. Petersburg, Russia, developed Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts to spread disinformation.
