Tuesday, February 27, 2018

NSA Chief: President Trump Has Not Ordered Retaliation Against Russian Hacking And Meddling



The Guardian: NSA chief: Trump 'has not ordered disruption of Russia election meddling'

* Mike Rogers: ‘Clearly what we’ve done hasn’t been enough’
* NSA chief says Putin has concluded there was ‘little price to pay’

A top national security official told lawmakers on Tuesday he had not been directed by Donald Trump to disrupt Russian efforts to meddle in US elections, and that Vladimir Putin had come to the conclusion there was “little price to pay” for such actions.

Adm Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and chief of US Cyber Command, told the Senate armed services committee: “Clearly, what we’ve done hasn’t been enough.”

Asked if he had been granted the authority by Trump to counter Russian cyber-attacks at source, Rogers said: “No, I have not.”

Read more ....

More News On NSA Director Mike Rogers Admitting That President Trump Has Not Ordered Him To Retaliate Against Russian Hacking And Meddling

Top intel official: US must do more to stop Russian meddling -- AP
White House Has Given No Orders to Counter Russian Meddling, NSA Chief Says -- New York Times
US cyber chief says Trump hasn't told him to confront Russian cyber threat -- CNN
NSA Chief: U.S. Response 'Hasn't Changed The Calculus' Of Russian Interference -- NPR
Trump has not ordered retaliation against Russian hacking, Pentagon's cyber chief says -- Washington Examiner
Trump Spy Chief Says Russia Hasn't Paid Price for 2016 Meddling -- Bloomberg
Analysis: NSA director Mike Rogers' careful indictment of Trump's anti-Russia efforts -- Virginia-Pilot/Washington Post

7 comments:

B.Poster said...

There has yet to be offered proof of such "hacking and meddling." Given the dire nature of such a claim and the obvious fact that this only serves to exacerbate Cold War 2 which we can't afford, may not be able to win, and DON'T NEEED proof would need to be supplied. This is so serious that it will require the powers that be to release EVERYTHING including "sources and methods" on how they determined this.

These "powers that be" don't exactly have a good track record of trustworthiness. As such, "just trust us" is NOT good enough. Even if they had pristine trustworthiness, this still would not be good enough in this situation. They are accelerating a collision course between us and ARGUABLY the most powerful country on earth. Full disclosure would be fully necessary otherwise such a course of action simply cannot be supported.

It would also be helpful to examine how we ended up here. Expansion of NATO to Russia's borders for no good reason, endless "color revolutions" in the nations bordering Russia supporting governments hostile to Russia, and a coup in Ukraine. Perhaps the US had nothing to do with the "color revolutions" or the Ukrainian coup. Our government not only didn't condemn these things but apoeared to support them. To say this is "bad optics" is an understatement!!

If DJT is holding off on responding, good for him!! Time to take a deep breath, show some sanity, and focus on what we need to do to end Cold War 2. The administration of DJT has at least shown flashes of sanity.

Roger Smith said...


I am under the impression that NATO has expanded east because of Russia's past and ongoing behavior, not, as you write, "for no good reason".
As for Russia being "arguably the most powerful country on the earth"....take away their nukes and where are they? There are some pretty unpleasant numbers coming out of that country that appear to show Russian society isn't so great. Ya don't see many refugees fleeing there says it all.

Roger

Anonymous said...

Roger,

don't take bposter seriously. He always writes stuff like "Russia the best and greatest, most powerful, most beautiful country on earth and putin is a genius" (but he swears he is American lol). Anyways.. being European, I fully agree with you (roger), that NATO is only reacting to Russian aggressions.. shall we remind people what happened in just the last few years?

Russia invaded Georgia
Russia invaded East-Ukraine
Russia meddled in US elections
Russia meddled in European elections
Russia helps North Korea to get around sanctions and gets caught
Russia hacked Olympics (because they got upset they're not allowed to dope)
Russia builds a crazy 100megaton SALTED(!) torpedo drone, it's beyond MAD
Russia ATTACKS a US base, gets their assess wooped 200:0 and downplays it

But oh no, believe that Bposter guy who keeps telling everyone that it's Russia that's being threatened by Nato.. .sure dude.. you're as American as Vodka

Anonymous said...

oh and meanwhile, if you challenge Putin in Russia, you get either thrown in prison, are forbidden to run against him, or get shot in the back... what a great system they have over there! :)

B.Poster said...

Roger,

Part of the agreement to end Cold War 1 likely included an agreement that NATO would not expand eastward. Whether or not such an agreement actually existed I am not certain. I'm inclined to think that it did. A mistake was made not getting this in writing. Given some of the ridiculous rhetoric on the part of Ronald Reagan at the time, I'm sure there had to be some face saving. As such, this was never in writing and since there was/is no good reason to expand NATO eastward I'm pretty sure no one thought this would be necessary to get it in writing!!

The Russians might argue that the ongoing behavior is the result of endless "color revolutions" and NGOs operating to undermine them. Whether or not this is the case I cannot say for certain, however, the failure on the part of the US government to condemn such activities is telling and is clearly bad optics. In any event, the eastern Europeans contribute little to nothing to our security and are an enormous cost to us and drain on our resources. I would very respectfully suggest a foreign policy similar to that of Canada or Australia for our country.

Anonymous,

I did not write the things you suggest that I did. Please read the posts in their entirety before commenting. As for the election meddling, this has not been proven. As I point out, these are serious allegations and not to be taken lightly. Given the serious nature and the lack of trustworthiness of the US and "western" governments, much evidence would need to be presented as I lay out the ramifications of this in the above post. As for the military actions, these are not so simple. The role of America and the "west" in provoking such actions will need to be examined.

And yes, European, I am an American. Like many Americans we simply do not agree with much of our foreign policy and want it changed. Of course you, European, who have grown wealthy beyond measure off of exploitation of America likely are in love with this foreign policy. If you want to fight Russia, STAP IT ON!! They are looking for some cannon fodder in places like Poland and Ukraine. Who knows they may even sing songs some day about your bravery!! STRAP IT ON MY FRIEND!! ONWARD TO GLORY MY EUROPEAN FRIEND!!

Now we do want more Russian help on North Korea. I'd suggest a change in our policies toward Eastern Europe. Perhaps an agreement can be worked out. Anyway try to get them to see that supporting North Korea is a dead end. Also, dumping the chump South Korea would allow us some flexibility at negotiating as well if freed from that burden.

By the way, try challenging a Clinton. See where that gets you. Try supporting Trump in certain places. See where that gets you. I never said the Russian system was great. As stated, please read the posts in their entirety before commenting.

Did Russia hack the Olympics? Was that proven? The Russian athletes weren't doing anything we (Americans) don't do. I'm pretty sure every other nation does the same thing. Why was Russia singled out? Wouldn't South Korean Olympic officials have expected blowback for such an action?

As for the Russian attack on the US base, this never would have happened had the US not been there in the first place as we had no business there anyway. Who are we assisting? It appears to be al Qaeda/ISIS supported "rebels." Hopefully I am wrong. At one point, it was suggested that POTUS might consider using this as an example to show how "tough" he is on Russia. As the editor explained, such would be a terrible idea. Thus far both sides have been wise to downplay this. I will reiterate what I have said before. I am immensely pleased that our people won that round. The next round may not go as well. Hopefully we can deescalate tensions here.

Anonymous said...

Poster: you are either a russian dupe or operative or you are fairly naive. The Russians did not intefere in our elections? Fact checking SAYS THIS

B.Poster said...

Anon,

Thanks for the link. Just more speculation without evidence being provided. I'm sorry I'm not impressed with all 16 US Intelligence agencies. US (un)intelligence does not exactly have a good track record. It'd be unwise to rely on them as a primary or even a secondary source and you call me "naïve" and a "dupe!!"

Whose paying the private security companies? What sources and methods did they use? Who are the investigators and what biases might they be subject to? Given the track record, "just trust us" is not sufficient.

Now anonymous, you want to fight Russia. STRAP IT ON!! Ukraine and Poland are needing some cannon fodder. I'm sure they'd love to have you!! GO STRAP IT ON!!

Now "Russia=good," "America=bad," "America=good," or "Russia=bad" that often passes for "analysis" here is overly simplistic. With that said we have done much to unnecessarily inflame this situation. For example, as I have pointed out elsewhere inserting ourselves into the situation in Ukraine was about the stupidest move a major power has ever made. There were bound to be repercussions for such an action. When we jump into something like an idiot school girl experiencing her first crush without even thinking through who or what we are supporting, such actions generally cannot be expected to end well.