Last week, the Pentagon’s cyberdefense commander was asked whether the government has done enough to protect the 2018 congressional election against Russian hacking. “We’re not where we need to be,” Adm. Mike Rogers told a Senate committee. Rogers echoed warnings from other intelligence officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to keep meddling in U.S. and foreign elections until someone makes him stop. “President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion that there’s little price to pay here,” Rogers said. “If we don’t change the dynamic, this is going to continue.” Time is short: This year’s primary elections begin March 6, in Texas.
But there’s been no call to arms from President Trump, who could galvanize the federal bureaucracy and Congress to counter the threat if he chose. Instead, the president still reacts to warnings about Russian interference as if they were attacks on his legitimacy.
When his national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, called the evidence of Russian meddling “incontrovertible,” Trump erupted.
“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H,” he complained on Twitter.
Full Article: Five things Trump could do to stop Russia’s meddling.