“we’re sending a message” to Putin
Russian President President Vladimir Putin holds up a glass during a toast at a luncheon hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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.
US government have accused Russian government of interfering with the 2016 Election. Joint Statement from the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence mentioned that US:
will take action to protect our interests, including in cyberspace, and we will do so at a time and place of our choosing
“The public should not assume that they will necessarily know what actions have been taken or what actions we will take.”
“Some states have also recently seen scanning and probing of their election-related systems, which in most cases originated from servers operated by a Russian company. However, we are not now in a position to attribute this activity to the Russian Government. The USIC and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assess that it would be extremely difficult for someone, including a nation-state actor, to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyber attack or intrusion. This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place. States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process.”
“Russia must face serious consequences,” said Republican Senator Ben Sasse.
“Vice President Joe Biden told “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd on Friday that “we’re sending a message” to Putin and that “it will be at the time of our choosing, and under the circumstances that will have the greatest impact.” reported the NBCnews.
“When asked if the American public will know a message was sent, the vice president replied, “Hope not.”” … “To the backdrop of this aggressive, unpredictable line, we must take measures to protect (our) interests, to hedge risks.”
While Russia denies any involvement, they believe the attack is unprecedented. “The threats directed against Moscow and our state’s leadership are unprecedented because they are voiced at the level of the US vice president,” reported the Russian RIA Novosti news agency. Numerous sources suggest that Russian government prefers to favour Donald Trump then Hillary Clinton.
