* A new book, 'Russian Roulette,' details Donald Trump's business ties in Russia and Russia's efforts to meddle in the presidential election
* The interference was one of the greatest policy challenges for the outgoing Obama administration
* Advisors debated the pros and cons of hitting back at Russia, whether to go public with what they knew, and how to get it to stop
* One risk was fueling the chaos intelligence officials believe Russia was trying to sew
* Two security advisors prepared a menu of plans for potential counter attacks
* National Security Advisor Susan Rice delivered a message: 'Stand down'
* Officials were concerned about leaks that could limit President Obama's options
In late 2016, as the extent of Russian election meddling was becoming clear, Obama administration security officials devised plans to hit back at Moscow, only to be shut down.
As they learned more about Russia's efforts to hack emails and even penetrate election systems, Obama security advisors debated the pros and cons of hitting back at Russia, whether to go public with what the administration knew, and how to get Russia to stop.
Read more ....
Update: “Why the Hell Are We Standing Down?” .The secret story of Obama’s response to Putin’s attack on the 2016 election. (David Corn and Michael Isikoff, Mother Jones)
WNU Editor: If Hillary Clinton had won the election, this would not even be a story. But David Corn and Michael Isikoff are pointing out what this blog has mentioned more than once .... if there was one cyber-hack incident that damaged the Democrat Party's election chances of winning the Presidential election, it was the hack of the DNC's servers and the release of thousands of emails (posted on Wikileaks) that exposed how the Democrat nomination was being fixed to favor Hillary Clinton. That leak .... more than anything else .... damaged her standing among many Democrats who may not have supported her, but who would have voted for her in the election (but decided to stay home instead .... which many did). But the problem with this story is that no one in the U.S. government has provided any proof that the Russians were the ones responsible for this cyber attack, and Wikileaks founder Jullian Assange (who has a history of not lying when it comes to Wikileaks), has vehemently denied that his source(s) are from the Russians. For all we know, that leak may have come from a Bernie Sander's supporter who was unhappy that the DNC leadership were conspiring to stop his/her favorite candidate. But I do know that leaks are a part of life in Washington .... and the media do live and thrive on it. If this story was reversed, and it was the Republican Party's emails that were being posted that exposed corruption in the Republican primary process, we would never hear the end of that, and that reporter/news organization would be winning a Pulitzer Prize and non-stop praise from their peers .... and no mention or speculation of a Russian connection. And as for President Obama ordering a "stand down" order to the U.S. intelligence community .... I suspect that the reason why he did it was because he believed that the Russian cyber-effort was amateurish and it would not impact the election (an opinion that I also share). So why taint Hillary Clinton's win (which he and everyone else were sure was going to happen) by going public and blasting Russia .... or worse .... starting a cyber war against Russia a month or two before the elections.
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