BREAKING: AP investigation finds FBI failed to tell scores of US officials they were targets of Russ

[MelissaB]

Link to tweet

Updated w/ story

FBI didn’t tell US targets as Russian hackers hunted emails

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlin’s crosshairs, The Associated Press has found.

Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up. Even senior policymakers discovered they were targets only when the AP told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.

“It’s utterly confounding,” said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. “You’ve got to tell your people. You’ve got to protect your people.”

The FBI declined to answer most questions from AP about how it had responded to the spying campaign. The bureau provided a statement that said in part: “The FBI routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information.”

More: https://www.apnews.com/f1a5570b7ce04d39bab00ae3a9041460?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP_Politics

I'd say this is probably a BFD.

[Iliyah]

1. DUH

I'll say most of the GOP politicians and their fucking donors, and media.

[MelissaB]

2. Another snip

The AP did its own triage, dedicating two months and a small team of reporters to go through a hit list of Fancy Bear targets provided by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks.

Previous AP investigations based on the list have shown how Fancy Bear worked in close alignment with the Kremlin’s interests to steal tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party. The hacking campaign disrupted the 2016 U.S. election and cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump, whom U.S. intelligence agencies say the hackers were trying to help. The Russian government has denied interfering in the American election.

The Secureworks list comprises 19,000 lines of targeting data. Going through it, the AP identified more than 500 U.S.-based people or groups and reached out to more than 190 of them, interviewing nearly 80 about their experiences.

[MelissaB]

3. Analysis by Eric Garland

The AP just revealed that throughout this year, it's been doing counterintelligence work. Here's what I think it means.

1. This was no average failure by the FBI. NatSec officials and politicians were hacked by a foreign power in an election year.

Not only did they apparently let this slide, they also downplayed the risk to the Clinton campaign - while an element in FBI then reopened the "emails" case on Clinton.

Sidenote/forecast: almost every Trump/Alt-Right talking point against Hillary covers for Trump.

"Her emails" = Russia's hacking emails "Crooked" = We're actual gangsters "It's rigged" = We're rigging it Now ask yourself what Pizzagate was.

Back to analysis: 2. That AP had to chase this story down *months later* explains why we were caught off guard by this attack.

If there was an organized attempt to conceal this Russian hacking effort from @Comey, then it would be tough for him to brief Obama.

This could explain why it took until the last weeks of the campaign to perceive the full gravity of the situation.

And, then agents at FBI reopen the Hillary email case with only days to go. Chaffetz tweets it out. Credits the DIRFBI.

FBI Dir just informed me, "The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation." Case reopened

Link to tweet

Note that the day after Mueller is appointed, Chaffetz announced he'd be leaving Congress early, exactly like nobody ever does.

It's probably safe to say that Chaffetz - who tried to obstruct this case - had a nasty conversation with someone.

3. If FBI Counterintel was obscuring the emails, perhaps there were other failures as well.

And if that failure to investigate, analyze, and report was widespread, then Comey and Mueller have been SPRINTING to catch up.

That the investigation has taken ONLY a year before indictments would then be a Herculean, if overdue, task.

4. We should never get pantsed like this again in our lifetimes. 😠😠😠

5. The rest of the story is going to make people angry enough, I suspect, to provide ample motivation to do better. </ANALYSIS>

[WinkyDink]

13. DU called this "Accusations against HRC as cover for Trump" long ago, but WE called it "projection."

[yardwork]

4. Comey was too busy wringing his hands over Hillary's emails to do his actual job.

[MoonRiver]

20. He made sure DEMOCRAT Clinton

was not allowed to take up residence in the White House. He accomplished that but did not understand the complete depravity of the guy he ushered in.

[gademocrat7]

5. Outrageous and disgusting.

Chaffetz is a dirty treason weasel. The FBI needs to fumigate it’s house.

[LiberalFighter]

7. I agree. They need to weasel out the partisan hacks within their ranks.

[bronxiteforever]

6. Wow brilliant points plus dont forget Rudy G. He is all over this.

[TheDebbieDee]

9. Yes, Rudy Gu911iani has been MIA for several months...

But according to media reports he was spotted in somewhere on the other side of the pond last week.

[L. Coyote]

8. And Mueller subpoenaed the DoJ. Was there a faction working to fix the election.

Did the Russian collusion include people in government positions undermining Clinton. Did they manipulate Comey? To what extent was FBI activity surrounding Clinton a political witch hunt to prevent a woman from becoming the boss of a bunch of conservative misogynists?

How we got to this moment may be far more complex than currently realized.

[Merlot]

10. I think it was less about her being a woman and more about being a dem

That she was a woman just added fuel to their fire, butthey would have gone after any dem. That's what they'vebeen doing for years.

[L. Coyote]

11. Agreed.

[Irish_Dem]

12. FBI faction a Russian asset? Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

What Comey did was a crime. And someone egged him on.

[JHB]

14. Rudy Giuliani knows. Maybe someone should talk Turkey with him.

After all, he was chortling in public days before Wiener laptop episode came up, which is what prompted Comey take an inevitably political action over stuff that were simply old back-ups of what they already had.

[ancianita]

15. THIS is a hit piece. Don't fall for it! 16 INTEL agencies watched the whole thing.

It's THEIR job to tell government and the FBI.

It's the FBI's job to investigate that intel.

The FBI's job is threat assessment, not to run IT interference for government.



I repeat: this is a hit piece.

This AP feed presents a right wing talking point meant to discredit the current investigation.

The FBI's job is to investigate what Intel agencies tell it is a possible threat.

This is NOT a failure of the FBI.

This is a failure of 16 Intel agencies.

They have had the same damn "watching" problem since before 9/11.

Do not believe AP interpretations of "fault."

[bobbieinok]

17. Can you back up this claim?

Anything is possible. But would like some documentation, published comment, etc, from someone who's been studying this whole mess.

[ancianita]

18. The AP's search doesn't support their claim that the FBI didn't "inform." There's evidence IN the

article that when the FBI saw threat, they informed people about it. The fact that the NSA and other Intel agencies did not inform either government or the FBI is evidence enough that Intel doesn't see fit to communicate its own intel in timely ways to the affected parties.

This finger pointing by the AP is armchair quarterbacking about the exact wrong organization. My claim is that they don't know the difference between the 16 Intel agencies' job and the FBI's job.

What do you mean, "anything is possible"?

[annabanana]

25. I agree with you. If the FBI didn't pass along this information at that time, it was

probably playing a longer game. When Mueller starts rolling people up, we will see the real scope of it.

ALSO.. Anything that hangs on the FBI NYC Field Office is suspect.. (Rudy's boys).

[ananda]

16. Definitely a BFD!

nt

[ancianita]

19. Yeah. A BFD that the AP misrepresents.

[MariaCSR]

21. How??? How are they misrepresenting????

HOW SWAY????

[ancianita]

24. The FBI's job is threat assessment, not to run IT interference for government. Now you: How is

the AP representing the FBI accurately??


Or you could read these two books and get back to me:

"The Threat Matrix" by Garrett M. Graff, and

"Cybersecurity and Cyberwar" by P.W. Singer and Allan Friedman

Then get back to me and show me how the AP knows what it's talking about.

[annabanana]

26. I remember that Murdoch got his grubby mitts on the AP a few years ago.

I have looked HARD their pronouncements since.

[ancianita]

27. So have I. It's not their armchair research. It's their interpretation of it, and who to "fault."

[Xolodno]

22. Shit hit the fan and splattered.

The FBI didn't know what to do. They probably informed people..but beyond that, what do you do? You can't tell an elected official to stop using their yahoo mail account, probably never had adversarial nation with the balls to try this....and if so, you think the CIA was already on top of it. They are after-all, the agency that's supposed to counter this. The FBI is supposed to concentrate on federal crimes, domestic terrorism like the Una Bomber and other issues. Sure they prosecute spy's...but almost always after being tipped off or assistance by the CIA. They aren't funded or equipped for counter intelligence against a foreign entity.

If anything, this is a testament to the failure of the CIA. Clinton's emails was about if they were negligent domestically, not about what damage a foreign country did, that was for the CIA, something that doesn't get enough attention in the media.

[barbtries]

23. okay tell me if i'm full of shit,

but this appears to implicate the FBI or at least certain persons in the FBI of also being at the mercy of the russians. i've already concluded that large numbers of congress people must be or they would have put the screws to trump ages ago.

i feel like donald rumsfeld with the known knowns, the unknown knowns, and the unknown unknowns. or, perhaps, they are just trying to make me lose my sanity so i can be a good german.