International Security Course–Fall  2020

But his emails!

Last week Microsoft issued a warning that the same Russian military intelligence unit that had attacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016 is once again back at it and hacking campaign staff members on both sides of the aisle. The fact that a company, Microsoft Corporation, is the one to make this information public and not our own federal intelligence agencies also brings the question- do they not know, or do they simply don’t want it to be public knowledge? Brian Murphy, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence division who is now considered a whistleblower, has stated the White House and the Department of Homeland Security withheld information of Russia’s continual interference because it “made the president look bad.”

Judging by the cyber attacks by China and Russia the reports seem to conclude Chinese leaders prefer Biden over Trump. If it is in the best interest for China for Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States, they may not understand how our current president operates. Simply by China trying to assist in somehow disrupting Trump’s campaign lobs a softball over the middle for Trump to attend all his rallies and shout from his soapbox ‘Look how badly China wants me gone.’ Over the past 4 years as Trump oddly touts his friendships with dictators like Putin and Kim Jong-Un, he continually used his rectotic to paint a picture of China as against the American people. 

While Russia’s motivations were not made clear by Microsoft, they said it is the role of U.S. intelligence officials to figure out what information may have been stolen, and for what reason. It certainly feels like no matter what information may have been stolen, nothing will be able to deter Trump supporters from voting for him on November 3rd, but for those still on the fence Russia and/or China may be setting Biden up for the 2020 version of Hilary’s “but her emails” situation. 

 

Sanger, D., & Perlroth, N. (2020, September 10). Russian Intelligence Hackers Are Back, Microsoft Warns, Aiming at Officials of Both Parties. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/us/politics/russian-hacking-microsoft-biden-trump.html

One thought on “But his emails!”

  1. Chris,

    It is a very sad commentary that our outstanding and completely dedicated intelligence community has been maligned and minimized by this president. Based on everything we know, it is clearly apparent that the Russians ARE actively intervening on behalf of Trump, not Biden. It seems equally apparent (at least to me) that Trump is deeply compromised. They have something(s) serious on him, and he is therefore unable to speak out, not only about their attempts to interfere in the campaign but also about something as outrageous as putting bounties on the heads of US soldiers in Afghanistan. The only solution to this is the outcome on November 3, assuming the Russians don’t succeed again in manipulating outcome! –Professor Wallerstein

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