Responding To The Damage: Trump And The Russians
(Jeffrey McCaskill — October 17, 2018)
So, we’re a year and some change into the Trump Administration, and, lo and behold, the President’s popularity is dwindling, he’s embroiled in numerous potentially criminal scandals, and the global economy seems poised to tank as the full effects of abandoned trade agreements and stifling trade tariffs begin to wreak havoc on global markets.
Moreover, we have a leader who exhibits a flagrant disregard for the truth and uses social media to attack key individuals and organizations within the justice system, the intelligence community, and the media in order to distract us from a special counsel investigation that may well reveal a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s election committee and Russian government hackers intent on defrauding the American electorate of its duly-elected President. While you take a moment to consider the implications of this, remember that we're not discussing the plot for the next John Le Carré novel here—instead, it seems, we have gone through the looking glass.
The fallout of Mueller’s findings, given the due diligence of his team and the number of key witnesses granted immunity, may be staggering. What media pundits are predicting, wrestling with, and pontificating about today will be utterly eclipsed by the revelations brought forth by the special counsel. However, just because we know that day is coming does not mean we will react appropriately to it. Consider for a moment our early-warning weather system. While it’s enormously complex, it has become quite good at forecasting the paths and consequences of hurricanes over the years. Yet how many times have we seen footage depicting a dramatic rescue of those who disregarded the forecast and chose to stay? Likewise, when Mueller makes his fateful pronouncements, all manner of pedants and fools will shout from bars, Wal-Marts, and Piggly-Wigglys that Trump was railroaded by a conspiracy of Deep State operators, media moguls, and left-wing collaborators for knowing too much and trying to drain the swamp.
Nevertheless, it is my hope that between now and then we might turn our attention away from those responsible long enough to explore how, as a nation, we can assemble the talent, resources and oversight required to prevent a similar event from happening again. Given their unmitigated success, it is likely the Russians will strike again as new opportunities present themselves. It may not occur as quickly as the midterm elections, but a follow-on effort seems inevitable.
Unlike Trump's recent boondoggle, the U.S. Space Force, there's no need to establish an entirely new agency to prevent this. I am wholly confident that the required cyber-crime experts are already gainfully employed by the NSA, CIA and FBI. Any additional expertise could easily be mustered from the ranks of Google, Microsoft, Apple, et al. In fact, an alliance between federal and commercial assets might be just the ticket for meeting headlong any future electoral cyber-threats we face--not only from Russia, but from a myriad other hostile actors--China and Iran chief among them.
Regardless of this team’s makeup, the important thing is that we continue to aggressively thwart international efforts hell-bent on derailing our elections, disrupting our economy, and/or stealing critical state, military and industrial secrets. While scores of American voters may be outraged or embarrassed by upcoming revelations about this Administration, one thing is certain: we must remain diligent, flexible, and proactive in our cyber-security duties in order to successfully move past this crisis as we look forward to better, brighter days ahead.
So, we’re a year and some change into the Trump Administration, and, lo and behold, the President’s popularity is dwindling, he’s embroiled in numerous potentially criminal scandals, and the global economy seems poised to tank as the full effects of abandoned trade agreements and stifling trade tariffs begin to wreak havoc on global markets.
Moreover, we have a leader who exhibits a flagrant disregard for the truth and uses social media to attack key individuals and organizations within the justice system, the intelligence community, and the media in order to distract us from a special counsel investigation that may well reveal a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s election committee and Russian government hackers intent on defrauding the American electorate of its duly-elected President. While you take a moment to consider the implications of this, remember that we're not discussing the plot for the next John Le Carré novel here—instead, it seems, we have gone through the looking glass.
The fallout of Mueller’s findings, given the due diligence of his team and the number of key witnesses granted immunity, may be staggering. What media pundits are predicting, wrestling with, and pontificating about today will be utterly eclipsed by the revelations brought forth by the special counsel. However, just because we know that day is coming does not mean we will react appropriately to it. Consider for a moment our early-warning weather system. While it’s enormously complex, it has become quite good at forecasting the paths and consequences of hurricanes over the years. Yet how many times have we seen footage depicting a dramatic rescue of those who disregarded the forecast and chose to stay? Likewise, when Mueller makes his fateful pronouncements, all manner of pedants and fools will shout from bars, Wal-Marts, and Piggly-Wigglys that Trump was railroaded by a conspiracy of Deep State operators, media moguls, and left-wing collaborators for knowing too much and trying to drain the swamp.
Nevertheless, it is my hope that between now and then we might turn our attention away from those responsible long enough to explore how, as a nation, we can assemble the talent, resources and oversight required to prevent a similar event from happening again. Given their unmitigated success, it is likely the Russians will strike again as new opportunities present themselves. It may not occur as quickly as the midterm elections, but a follow-on effort seems inevitable.
Unlike Trump's recent boondoggle, the U.S. Space Force, there's no need to establish an entirely new agency to prevent this. I am wholly confident that the required cyber-crime experts are already gainfully employed by the NSA, CIA and FBI. Any additional expertise could easily be mustered from the ranks of Google, Microsoft, Apple, et al. In fact, an alliance between federal and commercial assets might be just the ticket for meeting headlong any future electoral cyber-threats we face--not only from Russia, but from a myriad other hostile actors--China and Iran chief among them.
Regardless of this team’s makeup, the important thing is that we continue to aggressively thwart international efforts hell-bent on derailing our elections, disrupting our economy, and/or stealing critical state, military and industrial secrets. While scores of American voters may be outraged or embarrassed by upcoming revelations about this Administration, one thing is certain: we must remain diligent, flexible, and proactive in our cyber-security duties in order to successfully move past this crisis as we look forward to better, brighter days ahead.
