The U.S. Senate released its report in June of 2017 about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Election. Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, penned the opening statement.
“In 2016, a hostile foreign power reached down to the State and local levels to touch voter data. It employed relatively sophisticated cyber tools and capabilities and helped Moscow to potentially build detailed knowledge of how our elections work. It was also another example of Russian efforts to interfere into a democracy with the goal of undermining our system. In 2016, we were woefully unprepared to defend and respond and I’m hopeful that we will not be caught flatfooted again.”
As for the 2024 U.S. elections, the Kremlin’s information warriors not only produced a late wave of fabricated videos that targeted the electoral process and the Democratic presidential ticket, but also no longer bothered to hide their role in producing them. Even as officials called the videos out, new ones appeared. They reached a crescendo on Election Day.
“The flood of disinformation from Russian troll farms is just seemingly part of the overarching information environment,” said Chris Krebs in The New York Times. He served as the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency during Trump’s first term. Krebs was fired when he called the 2020 election fairly run.
Fast forward to the present: U.S. President Donald Trump is pausing offensive cyber operations against Russia, part of the markedly softened American position toward Moscow in eagerness to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions. The move also suspends tracking Russia’s offensive cyber operations. U.S. Cyber Command, established more than a decade ago, has several thousand computer operatives at its base at Fort Meade, Maryland.
This seriously undermines the strength of the U.S. fightback in the cyber arena against alleged Russian hacking, election interference and sabotage efforts that have targeted the U.S. and Western nations which have sided with Ukraine. Hundreds or thousands of personnel could be affected by the order and operations aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s digital defenses are likely to be among those affected.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told ABC: “You’re not going to bring [the Russians] to the table if you’re calling them names, if you’re being antagonistic. That’s just the president’s instincts from years and years and years of putting together deals.” Like the deal calling for Ukraine to hand over to the U.S. $500 billion worth of its profits from rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance without any security assistance.
Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in CSO online: “You should negotiate with adversaries from a position of strength, not weakness. By effectively unilaterally disarming in the digital domain, we sacrifice our leverage and invite further aggression, not concessions. The administration appears to believe that it will be rewarded with reciprocal restraint. I think Putin’s previous performances call this theory into question.”
Trump seems willing to give Putin a free pass as Russia and Russian-linked cyber-criminals continue to launch cyberoperations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure. Many emanate from Russia in what intelligence officials have said are largely criminal acts that have been sanctioned, or ignored, by Russian intelligence agencies. European nations rely on U.S. cyber support to counter these threats, but with this policy shift, they may need to depend more on Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters and Canadian intelligence.
Interestingly, Trump gave Cyber Command new authorities in his first term to conduct offensive cyberoperations including a stepped-up effort to probe Russia’s electric power grid. This was likely meant as a warning to Russia not to interfere with American critical infrastructure.
When that story broke, one would think Trump would have enjoyed a hearty ‘attaboy’ round of congratulations for strengthening our cybersecurity and power against one of our most aggressive adversaries. Instead, Trump denounced that reporting as “a virtual act of Treason,” but his former aides later said he was concerned the revelation would affect his relationship with Putin.
The U.S. has twice sided with Russia in votes at the United Nations to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the Trump administration’s change of stance on the war and Russia.
On Feb. 24 at the UN General Assembly in New York, the U.S. joined Russia, Belarus, Hungary and North Korea (plus 12 other states) in opposing a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Then the U.S. drafted and voted for a resolution at the UN Security Council which called for an end to the conflict — but contained no criticism of Russia.
Dr. William Kolbe, an Andover resident, is a retired high school and college teacher and former Peace Corps volunteer in Tonga and El Salvador. He can be reached at bila.kolbe9@gmail.com.