Outgoing Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the campaign to sway the election in favor of Donald Trump did, in fact, involve Russian government-coordinated hacks, but,
Hacking was only part of it. It also entailed classical propaganda, disinformation, and fake news.
This heavy-handed and “multifaceted Russian campaign” attempted to undermine the United States, Clapper asserted, and — although these Russian hackers did not manage to infiltrate any voting machines or tamper with the vote count — there would be no way for the U.S. Intelligence Community to assess the total impact on the election. Stopping a hair’s breadth from calling this campaign an act of war, Clapper posited,
“Whether or not that constitutes an act of war. I think, is a very heavy policy call that I don’t think the intelligence community should make” — and then added, “It certainly — would carry, in my view, great gravity.”
NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers and undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Marcel Lettre, also testified on reports of Russian interference in the election — but testimony by Clapper, and questions from the committee, eerily echoed sessions with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the first Red Scare in the 1950s.
Acknowledging the United States and other allies routinely engage in espionage, Clapper explained of Russia’s operation,
I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we’ve seen in this case.
For all of this posturing about Russian meddling with computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta, among others, intelligence officials have not aligned behind the allegation — a fact which has garnered condemnation and outright ridicule.
Indeed, several current and former intelligence officials — as well as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — have vehemently denigrated the theory documents provided to the publishing organization had been attained by hackers at all. Rather, agreeing with Assange no State actor forked over the damning documents, some in the intelligence community believe evidence points to a disgruntled insider.
To wit, Clapper’s testimony spoke to a report forthcoming next week, purported to evince the Russian campaign theory, but will only show the conclusions reached by the NSA, FBI, and CIA — not every agency said to comprise the entirety of the intelligence community.
“I think the public should know as much about this as possible,” he said of the report. “We will be as forthcoming as we can, but there are some sensitive and fragile sources and methods here.”
Clapper, the outgoing Obama administration, and the corporate press have conflated independent, right-leaning, and alternative media outlets with both Russian propaganda and Fake News — without evidence to back the claims — a tactic surmised by many to eschew blame for the lost election and distract from enmity and corruption revealed in the contents of the leaks.
Particularly targeted for reporting the truth by this anti-Russia propagandizing has been state-run outlet RT, about which Clapper contended,
RT was very active in promoting a particular point of view, disparaging our system, our alleged hypocrisy about human rights, etc. Whatever crack, fissure they could find in our tapestry, they would exploit it.
Of course, as a U.S. official, Clapper is duly obligated not to admit to governmental wrongdoing; however, his seething admonishment of RT and surreptitious allegation that independent media outlets published only fake reports and purposely slanted misinformation is not only wholly false, it dangerously portends a crackdown on America’s free press.
In fact, Clapper went so far as to call for a return to the official U.S. propaganda machine, the United States Information Agency, which churned out pro-American news items from 1953, during the fury of the Red Scare, through 1999, when it transformed into the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
“We could do with having a USIA on steroids to fight this information war a lot more aggressively than we’re doing right now,” Clapper ironically lamented, or perhaps addressing that Obama signed measures similar to the agency’s mission into law in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
Read: U.S. To Build A “Weaponized Narrative” Into The Future of War
Notably, the intelligence director tellingly described the Russian interference as an “activist” effort to subvert American democracy — suggesting the press might not be the only target the government has in its sights.
But the fact the U.S. intelligence communities have painted truthful, accurate reporting by independent media with the broad Red Scare brush — simply because egregious nastiness revealed in authentic documents is too unpleasant to acknowledge — proves why the fictitious narrative of Fake News threatens dissent, itself.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it,” Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s chief propagandist notoriously but accurately stated. “The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.
Clapper is a God Damn traitor who belongs at the end of a rope.
I don’t know which one is worse, Clapper the talking puppet or Brennan the Muslim traitor.
Cut off the head and the body dies.
but it’s a hydra…
Not for long. We’re totally winning at this point.
I wish we were winning at this point, but when I go to work, or the store, or wherever, I still see the same old same old hell-in-a-hand basket mentality all around me. smh
I see it to. It’s unbelievable how deep in denial people are. I give people flyers for my advocacy organization promoting awareness of the fact that six types of bees have just been placed on the Endangered Species List and most people could care less. I say if we lose bees it’s gonna go from Mad Max to Soylent Green and they have no interest ! I’m still optimistic in spite of how pathetic the public still is because I’ve been awake since 1983 and the difference in the level of understanding by intelligent people is HUGE-ENORMOUS. People are waking up exponentially and there’s no going back. You can’t unlearn an idea. Like Roger Stone said to AJ” you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube”.
Please visit my website: ARFEP. ORG
Would you buy a used car from this man? (lol)
…I would not even sell him my used car….
I’d sell him a used goat. It might spare some little boy…
“…Russian hackers did not manage to infiltrate any voting machines or tamper with the vote count ”
That’s all that matters. The rest is Clapper fluff.
His bosses told him to say these things. If a bunch of people (a few thousand) don’t got to jail with Hellary leading the way Trump is in on it.
exactly. His globalist masters are pulling his strings.
…and this is exactly why I don’t vote any longer. Trump is as “anti-establishment” as the sky is made of whiskey. /sarc
This plan, by now, is so old it’s becoming transparent, and yet people don’t want to see what their eyes are showing them, don’t want to hear what their ears are listening to, and don’t know what their hearts are telling them. Unfortunately, all these blind followers of party/state/leader/king/president/whatever the heck will willingly, or unwittingly, take the rest of us down with them. Ah, well.
Peace.
Says little Mara the dirty RT troll
More goat worshiper propaganda.
Sacrifice the old goat.
I hope his desk is cleaned out. Trump is not going to indulge him with extra time to get out. Heads are going to roll at the CIA as soon as Trump is sworn in.
Trumps saying the same things JFK did about 6 months before he was iced. I can see why Trump has his own private body guards now.
Trump is going to play ball, just like all the rest, or indeed he will be treated like JFK. Trump is just another puppet-dictator at the beck and call of Netanyahu and the people he answers to. Trump’s money is a drop in the bucket; he’s very pro-Patriot Act, pro-Israhell. He doesn’t talk about re-opening the 9/11 investigation, and his campaign, like Obongo’s, was heavy on buzz words (“Make America Great Again” anyone?).
Pike’s 3rd World War is right around the corner, maybe a little behind schedule, but all the pieces seem to be in place and check-mate is in sight.
It’s a convenient attitude you got there – it allows you to criticize others while doing nothing to change anything. “No use fighting; they’ve won anyway ya ya ya…”
It’s called the coward’s way out.
I don’t know where you see cowardice in my statement of the obvious unless you’re projecting your own fears onto me. I mean, if you feel voting is going to change anything for the better, by all means knock yourself out. Just because I don’t blindly follow a leader-type doesn’t make me any more or less brave/cowardly than anyone, at least I’ve got enough cajones to state an obvious truth. I’ll go to my grave fighting this system if I have to, but the writing’s on the wall: the end game is near. I just don’t think it means that TPTB have won, but they are currently winning. You can read into it whatever you want, Mr. Burke. How you interpret what I wrote is up to you.
Peace.
Yeah, never mind. I was merely “projecting”. If you can see no difference between war with Russia (guaranteed under HiLIARy) and peace with Russia, stay home whenever it pleases you to.
Instead of trolling with your negativity, oh wise one, why don’t you offer a creative suggestion? Just because I’m smart enough NOT to participate in phony elections for phonies no person in their right mind would have nominated, what could I have done different to please you, oh Grand Poobah?
Uh, no, Mike. You’re too smart for me!
Indeed
Yes it was Putin who registered 2 million dead people to vote for HitLIARy!
Yes it was Putin who registered 20 million illegal aliens to vote for HitLIARy!!
Yes it was Putin who drove all them buses of illegal aliens from Poll to Poll to vote for HitLIARy.
Yes it was Putin who is old buddies with Soros, so he rigged all of Soros’s Diebold voting machines to vote for HitLIARy.
I guess the days of “It’s Bush’s fault” are over. I guess the question is “Who’s the biggest Liar? HitLIARy, Odumbo, The real fake media, or the rest of the liars in DC?
True; it’s now “Russia ate my homework!”
I wish I still had kids in school! What a great Idea to have the kids tell there teacher.
PUTIN HACKED MY HOMEWORK!
lol
I know!
I’ll add to your list of facts. It is is clear that the Russians forced Hillary Clinton :
1. To say that anyone who didn’t support her was “deplorable.”
2. To say that there are “limitations” on the 1st and 2nd Amendments.
3. To say that Americans will have to “necessarily change their views on religion.”
4. To hire thugs to disrupt Trump’s rallies. Of course, Democrats had nothing to do with it.
“Who’s the biggest Liar? HitLIARy, Odumbo, The real fake media, or the rest of the liars in DC?
Answer: All the above. Throw in the Intelligence Community’s psy-op since Nov. 10th for good measure.
Oh the truth is now the very root of conspiracy………………. Oh yes it is the enemy of the powers that be
…yeah…and Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Nineteen Arabs…operating & directed by a dead man… from a cave…with box cutters…demolished the most advanced air-defense system in the world on 911. FDR had no idea Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked. Oh…and let’s not forget that…”no one is listening on, or recording millions of Americans private phone and email traffic”. James Clapper needs to be removed from office, charged and convicted for treason, as well as crimes against humanity…then hanged.
RJO’Guillory
Spouting right down the globalist agenda. He makes a good puppet.
Ironic, isn’t it, that not a word about the ‘truth’ exposed by the thousands of emails Hillary so carelessly sent by her compromised computer. Instead, the lawless government draws focus to a ‘Russian hack’ . Damage control brought this on folks. The ‘truth’ in the emails is the issue, not who hacked. I hope President Trump will continue exposing the truth learned: Hillary did not win against Bernie Sanders, Hillary did not do anything to protect our Benghazi embassy under attack, and the Hillary/Obama cover-up was intentional to hide the fact that gun-running through Benghazi created what we now call ISIS.
I didn’t see any proof of Putin having intent?
Also ironic, if the rigging and fraud that went on in the HRC campaign were investigated and vote counts adjusted, Trump would certainly have won the popular vote.
CLAP ON!! CLAP OFF!! THE CLAPPER!!
Clap OFF, is right. ;9)B
It’s telling that no one has denied the truth of the content of Podesta’s emails. Nor has the Intelligence Community provided “evidence” beyond “reports” and “summaries.” There is no evidence.
BULLSH!T… I don’t trust a SINGLE WORD ANYBODY in this corrupt administration says, they all want America destroyed for their globalist agenda…They are ALL traitors, and should hang from the lamp posts.
As brief as it was, at least the avoidance of the content of the emails was addressed. That needs to be brought out center stage. The Dems are winning the conversation on that point.
I place little to no value in what “Clapper” had to say. Mainly because he is from our undoubtedly corrupt government and a member 17, an ungodly amount of “security agencies” who need to justify their existence when they repeatedly FAIL in protecting security and preventing enemy combatants from immigrating in Obama’s TROJAN HORSE refugee program. Do I need to remind ALL OF US about the FBI’s terrorist ENTRAPMENT SCHEMES? What, a total of 26 now? How about the continuing COINTELPRO programs taking place in Nevada and Oregon? (Don’t tell me you thought that was over just because they said it was?)
You know what pisses off the CIA. then a drug lords activities interferes with the profits of the CIA’s own drug program.
You know what pisses of the government? When the truth machine of whistle blowers bell ringers and of course HACKERS who reveal the TRUTH breaks the propaganda of the government and the globalists they are serving.
Didn’t this past perjurer say a few weeks ago he didn’t have any evidence of Russian hacking…? Now all of a sudden he’s got a cyber coup. He really is as evil and as funked in the head as he looks. Would you buy a car from a guy who looked like THAT…?! He, Obunghole, Biden, LYNCH(!), Herman Kerry leaving will be a good first draining of the swamp these scum help create. Can anyone wonder why President Trump doesn’t trust US “intelligence”…?!?!
His time is up! Part of the draining swamp issue!
Gee, how about the crime cabal in DC try running some people who do not have all these high crimes which they are trying to keep secret. Even if the Russians did the hack, which they did not, why is telling the truth about one of the candidates pedophile activity, bribe taking, murder, international war crimes, a problem. It would seem that the Head of the snake does not want the people to know that the minions of the crime cabal are evil, bloodsucking, crime ridden vermin. The question then becomes, not who told the truth, but why the criminal cow has not been arrested and charged.
The chutzpah of people Like Clapper is astonishing. How he has the gall to sit before any governmental body, or any other group of people, and give testimony to anything of importance after bald face lying to congress that the NSA was not spying on the American people (among others) takes the cake. Why anyone would believe a word Clapper speaks without ironclad evidence and backed by a least some other persons with at least untrammelled credibility to their names would seem the least reasonable course of action. Of course if the body in question, in this case the Senate, needs to hear lying Clapper and take his blather at face value because it helps their own position then we have to come to the conclusion they are all in it together. These people have some very hard salt on them and are up to their necks in criminality. The entirety of American governance is so rotten to the core with corruption the whole structure needs to be overhauled from top to bottom and all these criminals brought to trial under completely new management with a new code of laws to govern them. An example would be that all lobbyists would have to make full public disclosure of any of their dealings with anyone associated with the government under pain of fine and lengthy prison sentences for themselves and the head of any organization or corporation they are acting on behalf of. In actuality it may be beyond saving and the whole of societal structure may need a revamp as class warfare has gotten out of hand.
This treasonist shall receive what he reaps. Fabricated information and fake news by a high federal official are Internal sabotage against the nation. President Trump, the ball is in your court on January 20th.
I guess that “Russia did it” is the new “my dog ate my homework”.
If one needed someone to tell them the truth and your choices were from Clapper ,Obama, D.Chaney who would you choose ?????
Batman