Report: Washington miscalculated Russian threat
Russian attempts to influence or threaten the United States have gone unnoticed or unchallenged by the United States for years, according to The Washington Post.
Citing a counterintelligence probe by the FBI dubbed the "NorthernNight" investigation, the paper outlines a pattern in which the American government had all but ignored Russian provocations.
"U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies saw some warning signs of Russian meddling in Europe and later in the United States but never fully grasped the breadth of the Kremlin's ambitions. Top U.S. policymakers didn't appreciate the dangers, then scrambled to draw up options to fight back," the Post writes.
They write that while the U.S. government has developed ways to combat Russian efforts, they typically went nowhere due to "internal disagreement." The paper says this stemmed from a "fear of making matters worse or a misguided belief in the resilience of American society and its democratic institutions."
In its final years in office, the Obama administration sought to combat global cyberthreats by ordering U.S. spy agencies to plan over a "half-dozen specific operations." But plans fell through over a year later after the Trump White House remained "divided over whether to act," according to intelligence and administration officials.
Experts and members of the intelligence community say that Russia's role in the 2016 election should not be viewed as a standalone event.
"We should have every expectation that what we witnessed last year is not a one-shot deal," Douglas E. Lute, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO told the Post. "The Russians are onto something. They found a weakness, and they will be back in 2018 and 2020 with a more sophisticated and targeted approach."
In a Tuesday Washington Post op-ed, former CIA Director Michael Morell and former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers agreed with that sentiment, urging a more aggressive stance to deter Russian cyber attacks.