Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 25 February 2020

FBI official: Russia wants to see U.S. 'tear ourselves apart'

By ERIC TUCKER and the underlying intelli-
Associated Press gence, particularly since a
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rus- recent Senate Intelligence
sia wants to watch Ameri- Committee report faulted
cans "tear ourselves apart" the Obama administration
as the United States heads for not being sufficiently
toward elections, an FBI of- transparent about Rus-
ficial warned Monday. sian election interference
David Porter, an assistant ahead of the 2016 presi-
section chief with the FBI's dential contest.
Foreign Influence Task She said it remains unclear
Force, accused Russia of from the news reporting
conducting brazen opera- exactly what message
tions aimed at spreading was communicated to the
disinformation, exploiting committee.
lines of division in society "What I have really been
and sowing doubt about encouraging is that the
the integrity of U.S. elec- government be more forth-
tions and the ability of its coming of information that
leaders to govern effec- is more indicative of the
tively. current election threats,"
Porter spoke at an elec- Cordero said.
tion security conference Other speakers at the sym-
on Capitol Hill just days af- Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence posium, whose sponsors in-
ter conflicting accounts outside Moscow Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. cluded the Center for De-
emerged of a closed-door Associated Press mocracy and Technology
briefing intelligence offi- and Penn State Dickinson
cials had given to House ligence officials told him blurring fact from fiction, chaos in the U.S. and more Law, focused on more do-
lawmakers on threats from that Russia was looking to eroding American confi- about promoting and de- mestic threats to election
Russia and other nations boost his candidacy, too. dence in democratic insti- veloping its own economic security.
in the 2020 election. That Porter did not address the tutions and driving wedges standing in the world. Lawrence Norden, the di-
briefing focused attention briefing or whether Russia into society's fracture lines. "To put it simply, in this rector of the Election Re-
on the possibility that Russia had a preference for par- "The primary objective is space, Russia wants to form Program at the Bren-
could work to aid President ticular candidates. But he not to create a particular watch us tear ourselves nan Center for Justice,
Donald Trump's reelection. said Russia was generally version of the truth but rath- apart, while it seems that said he was concerned
Democratic rival Sen. Ber- engaged in "information er to cloud the truth and China would rather man- that there were no federal
nie Sanders has said intel- confrontation" aimed at erode our ability to find it, age our gradual economic regulations governing the
creating a sentiment that decline over the course of vendors who supply local
no narrative or news source generations," Porter said. election infrastructure.
can be trusted at all," Por- Intelligence officials have "I do think this is a real
ter said. not commented publicly weakness going into 2020,
The FBI formed the Foreign on the Feb. 13 briefing and the solution as always
Influence Task Force after given to members of the in elections is to hope for
widespread interference House Intelligence Com- the best and prepare for
by Russia in the 2016 presi- mittee. One intelligence the worst," Norden said.
dential campaign. The task official said lawmakers Meanwhile, Senate Dem-
force was initially intended were not told that Russia ocratic Leader Chuck
to focus primarily on Russia, was working directly to aid Schumer of New York,
but it also works to counter Trump. But other people fa- along with Democratic
influence operations — in- miliar with the meeting said Sens. Sherrod Brown of
cluding hacking and more they were told the Kremlin Ohio and Robert Menen-
covert methods — from was looking to help Trump's dez of New Jersey, sent a
adversaries including Chi- candidacy. The people letter Monday to Treasury
na, North Korea and Iran. spoke on condition of an- Secretary Steven Mnuchin
U.S. officials see China as onymity to discussed the and Secretary of State Mike
an aggressive threat, par- classified briefing. Pompeo urging sanctions
ticularly when it comes to Carrie Cordero, a former for "all those determined
espionage and theft of in- Justice Department nation- to be responsible for ongo-
tellectual property, but Por- al security lawyer, lament- ing elections interference,"
ter said Beijing's goal was ed the lack of public infor- including Russia President
less about sowing general mation about the briefing Vladimir Putin.q