.....and start campaigning, was Obama's advice to Donald Trump, when he (Trump) talked about Russian interference. Russian medling is impossible, he said.
Think again, says the US Senate Committee on Intelligence.
While reading the report, one has to bear in mind that the 2016 elections took place on Obama's watch, "ably" assisted by the likes of James Comy's FBI, Mike Rodger's NSA and Denis McDonough's DHS. In Theory, one should not be able to point a finger at the rat, John Brennan, since the CIA is not supposed to be operating within the US borders.
The entire report can be found here: https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/publications/russia-inquiry
These are some extracts:
Actors and Motive
- The Committee concurs with the IC that Russian government-affiliated actors were behind the cyber activity directed against state election infrastructure.
- While the full scope of Russian activity against the states remains unclear because of collection gaps, the Committee found ample evidence to conclude that the Russian government was developing capabilities to undermine confidence in our election infrastructure, including voter processes.
- The Committee does not know whether the Russian government-affiliated actors intended to exploit vulnerabilities during the 2016 elections and decided against taking action, or whether they were merely gathering information and testing capabilities for a future attack. Regardless, the Committee believes the activity indicates an intent to go beyond traditional intelligence collection.
The Committee found that DHS’s initial response was inadequate to counter the threat.
DHS and FBI alerts to the states in the summer and fall of 2016 were limited in substance and distribution. Although DHS provided warning to IT staff in the fall of 2016, notifications to state elections officials were delayed by nearly a year. Therefore, states understood that there was a cyber threat, but did not appreciate the scope, seriousness, or implications of the particular threat they were facing.
The Committee found that DHS is engaging state election officials more effectively now [The report was published in May 2018] than in the summer of 2016. Although early interactions between state election officials and DHS were strained, states now largely give DHS credit for making tremendous progress over the last six months.
Ongoing Vulnerabilities:
Despite the progress on communication and improvements to the security of our election process, the Committee remains concerned about a number of potential vulnerabilities in election infrastructure.
- Voting systems across the United States are outdated, and many do not have a paper record of votes as a backup counting system that can be reliably audited, should there be allegations of machine manipulation. In addition, the number of vendors selling machines is shrinking, raising concerns about supply chain vulnerability.
- Paperless Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines––machines with electronic interfaces that electronically store votes (as opposed to paper ballots or optical scanners)––are used in jurisdictions in 30 states and are at highest risk for security flaws. Five states use DREs exclusively.
- Many aspects of election infrastructure systems are connected to and can be accessed over the internet. Furthermore, systems that are not connected to the internet, such as voting machines, may still be updated via software downloaded from the internet.
- These potentially vulnerable systems include some of the core components of U.S. election infrastructure, including systems affiliated with voter registration databases, electronic poll books, vote casting, vote tallying, and unofficial election night reporting to the general public and the media. Risk-limiting audits are a best practice to mitigate risk.
- Vendors of election software and equipment play a critical role in the U.S. election system, and the Committee continues to be concerned that vendors represent an enticing target or malicious cyber actors. State local, territorial, tribal, and federal government authorities have very little insight into the cyber security practices of many of these vendors, and while the Election Assistance Commission issues guidelines for Security, abiding by those guidelines is currently voluntary.
Yeah right. "Stop whining and start campaigning", he said. And then he himself has the audacity to be out campaigning for the 2018 midterms? If only he was really campaigning instead of trying to divert the attention away from the numerous failings on his own watch.