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The NSA Chief Says Russia Hacked the 2016 Election. Congress Must Investigate.
I searched for this and didn't find it already posted...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/will-congress-investigate-russian-interference-2016-campaign
Despite all the news being generated by the change of power underway in Washington, there is one story this week that deserves top priority: Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. On Tuesday, the director of the National Security Agency, Admiral Michael Rogers, was asked about the WikiLeaks release of hacked information during the campaign, and he said, "This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect." He added, "This was not something that was done casually. This was not something that was done by chance. This was not a target that was selected purely arbitrarily."
This was a stunning statement that has echoed other remarks from senior US officials. He was saying that Russia directly intervened in the US election to obtain a desired end: presumably to undermine confidence in US elections or to elect Donald Trumpor both. Rogers was clearly accusing Vladimir Putin of meddling with American democracy. This is news worthy of bold and large front-page headlinesand investigation. Presumably intelligence and law enforcement agencies are robustly probing the hacking of political targets attributed to Russia. But there is another inquiry that is necessary: a full-fledged congressional investigation that holds public hearings and releases its findings to the citizenry.
If the FBI, CIA, and other intelligence agencies are digging into the Russian effort to affect US politics, there is no guarantee that what they uncover will be shared with the public. Intelligence investigations often remain secret for the obvious reasons: they involve classified information. And law enforcement investigationswhich focus on whether crimes have been committedare supposed to remain secret until they produce indictments. (And then only information pertinent to the prosecution of a case is released, though the feds might have collected much more.) The investigative activities of these agencies are not designed for public enlightenment or assurance. That's the job of Congress.
When traumatic events and scandals that threaten the nation or its government have occurredPearl Harbor, Watergate, the Iran-contra affair, 9/11Congress has conducted investigations and held hearings. The goal has been to unearth what went wrong and to allow the government and the public to evaluate their leaders and consider safeguards to prevent future calamities and misconduct. That is what is required now. If a foreign government has mucked about and undercut a presidential election, how can Americans be secure about the foundation of the nation and trust their own government? They need to know specifically what intervention occurred, what was investigated (and whether those investigations were conducted well), and what steps are being taken to prevent further intrusions.
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The NSA Chief Says Russia Hacked the 2016 Election. Congress Must Investigate. (Original Post)
Bill USA
Nov 2016
OP
doc03
(35,325 posts)1. What are the chances Congress will do anything? I am guessing somewhere between
zero and none.
sakabatou
(42,146 posts)2. My sentiments as well
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)3. Yes, this was posted. Good to post again!
elmac
(4,642 posts)4. The FBI should have been on this, but
they were too busy trying to bring down HRC. I bet the ruskies were in on the DU hack too.