Quote:
Originally Posted by ikalugin
The thing is - I do not trust those reports at this time, as we have previous experience of such reports being falsified in the past in order to attain political ends. I would guess that this argument was already mentioned (and thus I appologise for probably over using it) but this looks like the pre-Iraq reporting or more recently US reporting on ISIS and Syrian rebel movement in general (where the reports regarding ISIS were changed in the military intel apparatus in order to suit the political needs at the time).
Regarding the reports, such as the 13 page one that you have linked, it does not have evidence regarding how they attributed the attacks. In fact the majority of that report is about how to prevent and deal with the attacks. Morever the report itself is poorly writen, as they mix the names of the actors with the software used (page 4 of the report) making me doubt the competence of it's authors and it's credibility.
I wonder if the purge of US intel comunity (especially the CIA) by Trump would change things, or if this patern of behaviour would contrinue, just with another vector.
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Page four is a listing of Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) alternate names; it is very likely some of the software and the agencies' alternate names are shared. There is reference to attachments in the report, CSV and XML files; these and a description of the JAR can be found at the following US-CERT link:
https://www.us-cert.gov/security-pub...Cyber-Activity
The real meat and potatoes of the investigation is still classified at this point; however, the acceptance of the report and its underlying evidence by those of both political parties who have been authorized and have seen and read the full report has been overwhelming and no verifiable concrete evidence to dispute the findings have been acknowledged to have been presented either to Congress or the Administration. If there is any sloppy work, it is at the hands of the RIS who woefully failed to hide their tracks. Perhaps there has been a quiet purge in the RIS over this issue..
I don't really think an intelligence purge of any great extent is forthcoming; should the evidence be made public after a purge, the question would become "Why were the people who were right, ousted?" and "What sort of incompetency is it to blindly purge for political purposes?". The downside may be too great and the gain too little. Add to that the impression of Trump acquiescing to Putin as a reason for a purge of US Intelligence and it becomes an even stickier mess. Besides, those purged may just decide to do a little whistle blowing themselves...
The issue of election interference is beyond partisan politics; rest assured, if Clinton had been the apparent beneficiary of Russian interference, the issue would have been the same, if not louder. I tend to agree with House Speaker Ryan (GOP) who has stated action should have been taken long ago against Russian interference by the Administration and that Congress needs to do a full and complete bipartisan investigation. Trump may want to "Move on", particularly since his election already has enough taint, but there will be investigations and there will be hearings, private and public, and there is nothing Trump or his minions can do about it, legally or Constitutionally. The issue is about the very foundation of the US electoral systems and its reliability and veracity. If conducting a thorough investigation means Putin might stop sending love letters to Trump, so be it...
Incidentally, the JAR report is just a summary; a more detailed report will be issued in the coming days...
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