Obama team was warned in 2014

quote:

---

So do you recognize the Russian active measures campaign involving the 2016 election?

---

quote:

---

So do you recognize the Russian active measures campaign involving the 2016 election?

---

quote:

---

And 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996, 1992, etc.

---

quote:

---

Exactly. What makes this election so special?

---

quote:

---

Historical records are peppered with incidences of Russia-and other nations-attempting to curry favor abroad and advance their own interests by interfering in American politics. This sort of ill-intentioned meddling was especially prevalent during the Cold War in the 1950s and 60s.

---

quote:

---

To put the DNC hack in context, the U.S. and Russia have a history of interfering in each other’s political affairs that dates back to the 18th century, when Catherine The Great indirectly helped American colonists win the Revolutionary War. Below, I’ve pinpointed three episodes of U.S.-Russian foreign meddling. In some instances, the implications of foreign interference were minimal; in others, the meddling likely altered the course of history as we know it.

---

quote:

---

And yet, if these historical episodes teach us anything, it’s that Russia and the U.S. have a well-established interest in the outcomes of each other’s political elections. “To quote a Russian expression,” as Jennifer Wilson told The Guardian recently, “dirty politics ‘has no nationality’.”

---

quote:

---

Exactly. What makes this election so special?

---

quote:

---

Exactly. What makes this election so special?

---

quote:

---

Russia’s Active Measures today work far better than that of their Soviet forefathers. During the Cold War, the KGB had to infiltrate the West, recruit agents and promote communist parties and their propaganda while under watch by Western counterintelligence efforts. Should they be too aggressive, Soviet spies conducting Active Measures amongst U.S. domestic groups could potentially trigger armed conflict or would be detained and deported. Social media provides Russia’s new Active Measures access to U.S. audiences without setting foot in the country, and the Kremlin smartly uses these platforms in seven ways to win Western elections.

First, Russia chooses close democratic contests where a slight nudge can usher in their preferred candidate or desired outcome.

Second, Russia targets specific audiences inside electorates amenable to their messages and resulting influence – in particular alt-right audiences incensed over immigration, refugees and economic hardship.

Third, Russia plans and implements their strategy long before an election allowing sufficient time for cultivating an amenable audience ripe for manipulation.

Fourth, their early entry into electoral debates allows them to test many messages and then reinforce those messages that resonate and bring about a measurable, preferred shift in public opinion.

Fifth, Russia brilliantly uses hacking to compromise adversaries and power their influence messaging – a tactic most countries would not take.

Sixth, their employment of social media automation saturates their intended audience with narratives.that drown out opposing viewpoints.

Finally, Russia plays either side should the contest change – backing an individual candidate or party so long as they support a Kremlin policy position and then turning against the same party should their position shift against Russia.

---