Donald Trump has expressed the belief that the November 8 election could be rigged in favor of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He has reason to be concerned.
Never before in the recent history of U.S. elections have so many U.S. intelligence officials weighed in with their political favoritism. Former acting Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Morell has endorsed Mrs. Clinton and lambasted Trump. Former National Security Agency and CIA director Michael Hayden has called Trump a threat to national security. Disgraced former CIA Director David Petraeus, who shares the distinction with Mrs. Clinton of being called national security threats because of their mishandling of classified material, is known to be aghast at Trump’s candidacy and is quietly pulling for Clinton. One former CIA clandestine services officer, Evan McMullin, is running as an independent candidate for president to draw votes away from Trump.
Clinton is clearly the war hawk who wants to continue George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s “regime change” forays around the world.
In recent days, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have warned that nefarious but nebulous “Russian hackers” have penetrated election systems in Arizona and Illinois. Although U.S. election systems have been fraught with security and accuracy problems, protection of voting machines are state, county, municipal, and precinct responsibilities. Only more benign federal agencies, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), have a potential advisory role in recommending secure and accurate voting systems for states and lower levels of government.
To have FBI agents and DHS employees with as much computer security and data integrity knowledge as their fellow nincompoops at the Transportation Security Administration mucking around in election software and hardware systems should worry every state official who strives for a clean and accurate election.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson recently held a conference call with secretaries of state and other state election officials and stressed the need for cyber-security and election integrity. However, Johnson could not cite one instance where there was an identifiable threat, either domestic or foreign, against election systems. The FBI issued an “Amber alert” warning states that their election systems were being hacked. However, the FBI also required that state officials keep the “sensitive” hacking information from the public. There is a good reason for the FBI classifying information about election system hacking: their unprecedented fear-mongering about election hacking would be called out by anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of data security.
Johnson was likewise fear-mongering in an attempt to convince the secretaries of state to open up their election processes to federal snoops from the FBI and DHS. Two battleground states, Georgia and Pennsylvania, have declined federal meddling in their elections. Others should follow their lead.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
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States suspicious of FBI, DHS intrusion on voting systems
Posted on September 1, 2016 by Wayne Madsen
Donald Trump has expressed the belief that the November 8 election could be rigged in favor of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He has reason to be concerned.
Never before in the recent history of U.S. elections have so many U.S. intelligence officials weighed in with their political favoritism. Former acting Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Morell has endorsed Mrs. Clinton and lambasted Trump. Former National Security Agency and CIA director Michael Hayden has called Trump a threat to national security. Disgraced former CIA Director David Petraeus, who shares the distinction with Mrs. Clinton of being called national security threats because of their mishandling of classified material, is known to be aghast at Trump’s candidacy and is quietly pulling for Clinton. One former CIA clandestine services officer, Evan McMullin, is running as an independent candidate for president to draw votes away from Trump.
Clinton is clearly the war hawk who wants to continue George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s “regime change” forays around the world.
In recent days, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have warned that nefarious but nebulous “Russian hackers” have penetrated election systems in Arizona and Illinois. Although U.S. election systems have been fraught with security and accuracy problems, protection of voting machines are state, county, municipal, and precinct responsibilities. Only more benign federal agencies, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), have a potential advisory role in recommending secure and accurate voting systems for states and lower levels of government.
To have FBI agents and DHS employees with as much computer security and data integrity knowledge as their fellow nincompoops at the Transportation Security Administration mucking around in election software and hardware systems should worry every state official who strives for a clean and accurate election.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson recently held a conference call with secretaries of state and other state election officials and stressed the need for cyber-security and election integrity. However, Johnson could not cite one instance where there was an identifiable threat, either domestic or foreign, against election systems. The FBI issued an “Amber alert” warning states that their election systems were being hacked. However, the FBI also required that state officials keep the “sensitive” hacking information from the public. There is a good reason for the FBI classifying information about election system hacking: their unprecedented fear-mongering about election hacking would be called out by anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of data security.
Johnson was likewise fear-mongering in an attempt to convince the secretaries of state to open up their election processes to federal snoops from the FBI and DHS. Two battleground states, Georgia and Pennsylvania, have declined federal meddling in their elections. Others should follow their lead.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2016 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).