Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

I was promised a recession.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Greetings, Comrades, from the Heartland

Greetings, Comrades, from the Heartland

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Oh, my:

Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept.

The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light.

There is speculation that this arrest is related to the leaked document:

That should make this week’s Rogers and Comey testimony interesting, to say the least.

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  2. 2.

    Adam L Silverman

    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-government-contractor-georgia-charged-removing-and-mailing-classified-materials-news

    Department of Justice
    Office of Public Affairs
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Monday, June 5, 2017
    Federal Government Contractor in Georgia Charged With Removing and Mailing Classified Materials to a News Outlet

    A criminal complaint was filed in the Southern District of Georgia today charging Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a federal contractor from Augusta, Georgia, with removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 793(e).

    Winner was arrested by the FBI at her home on Saturday, June 3, and appeared in federal court in Augusta this afternoon.

    “Exceptional law enforcement efforts allowed us quickly to identify and arrest the defendant,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. “Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nation’s security and undermines public faith in government. People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation.”

    According to the allegations contained in the criminal complaint:

    Winner is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation assigned to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia. She has been employed at the facility since on or about February 13, and has held a Top Secret clearance during that time. On or about May 9, Winner printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency, and unlawfully retained it. Approximately a few days later, Winner unlawfully transmitted by mail the intelligence reporting to an online news outlet.

    Once investigative efforts identified Winner as a suspect, the FBI obtained and executed a search warrant at her residence. According to the complaint, Winner agreed to talk with agents during the execution of the warrant. During that conversation, Winner admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence reporting at issue despite not having a “need to know,” and with knowledge that the intelligence reporting was classified. Winner further admitted removing the classified intelligence reporting from her office space, retaining it, and mailing it from Augusta, Georgia, to the news outlet, which she knew was not authorized to receive or possess the documents.

    An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

    The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorney Julie A. Edelstein of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. The investigation is being conducted by the FBI.

  3. 3.

    MisterForkbeard

    Gotta say, seeing Greenwald step in it is kind of a guilty pleasure. I used to really like him, but he’s been on the ridiculous side of things for quite some time.

    HOWEVER: The news report doesn’t say there was collusion, and it doesn’t say whether or not the hacking attempt actually succeeded… and it doesn’t say whether or not it actually influenced the election. Only that the Russians definitely tried (at a government level) to hack our election, presumably in favor of Trump.

    It’s news, but it won’t actually change anything.

  6. 6.

    Westyny

    I’ve felt I’ve been living in an occupied country since November. But we still have some institutions that are not wholly corrupted or cowed. OTOH m, if Sessions has his way that won’t last. We’re in a race against time.

  8. 8.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:

    security and undermines public faith in government. People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation.”

    So when are charges going to be filed against Trump? Oh, wait it’s different because he’s the president. As if that excuses it

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    That should make this week’s Rogers and Comey testimony interesting, to say the least.

    Trump “Comey has given his testimony. Now let him try to enforce it! Loserz!”

  11. 11.

    MisterForkbeard

    @rp: Let me guess: “You can’t trust the NSA’s evaluation of whether or not Russia tried to hack us?” or the tried and true “This doesn’t actually prove anything even if it’s true”?

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Smiling Mortician: I just sent this to my boss and a colleague:

    Also, who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to give anyone named Reality a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information with Special Access Program access clearance? I’ve never been through the Special Security Officer course and I could have told you that was a bad idea.​

  15. 15.

    lapassionara

    @Westyny: This. I want to go back to the universe as it was before November 8, 2017. Who killed the butterfly?

  16. 16.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MisterForkbeard: HOWEVER: The news report doesn’t say there was collusion,

    Yeah, I think collusion is, or now, the wrong focus, which is why I think trump keeps bringing it up, because it would be really hard to prove and he know he never met with Vlad in a small restaurant outside of Brno– because he has no property in central Europe and couldn’t travel that far without pillows he owns. Or a golf cart. We need to find out what Russia did, and then look at whatever turns up while we look. When I say “we”, I mean Mueller, and when I say “need to”, that’s what I think he’s doing. I think trump and Kushner could both be in some serious trouble for how they did business and with whom, especially post-election, but collusion wrt to the campaign, to votes, could be very hard to pin down.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    Drinking game for Comey – every time “I can’t speak about an ongoing investigation” is said.

  19. 19.

    Quinerly

    @beef:
    You got there first! I might have beat you but had to read it twice. I thought my eyes were fucking with me.?

  20. 20.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    Looks like the Intercept accomplished what they wanted – they burned their own source by publishing the image with the creases.

    As a consequence, they spook those with Russia related info from leaking.

  22. 22.

    Westyny

    Humbling to reflect on the trans-national effort it took to save us from History’s Greatest Monster.

  23. 23.

    Smiling Mortician

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, she was hired in February of this year, so the “in their right mind” contingent among decision-makers had already been right-sized.

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m dense, so somebody enlighten me — Reality is on our side, right? The anti-Trump side?

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    His first name is Reality??

    Dunno, sounds like a troll name to me.

    Edit: Sorry, HER first name. Gendered assumptions get me every time.

    Another Edit: The hell with all y’all who got there first about the name.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    Interesting that Putin’s joke of an interview with Megan Kelly aired last night. Was this timing intentional?

  36. 36.

    TenguPhule

    I miss the days when the Onion was supposed to be satire instead of predicting the future.

  37. 37.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Glenn Greenwald‏ @ggreenwald May 30

    It is amazing how little condemnation these leaks get. Disclosure of content of intercepted calls is one of the most serious leaking crimes

    TLA‏ @giantcu92 May 30

    Ha! Greenwald decrying leaking? That’s his ENTIRE CAREER!

    Mahogany, MBA‏ @Mahogany1992 May 30

    Especially when Greenwald was in the business of leaking United States documents…hypocritical azzholes…

    So Grfitwald was all for leaking documents from the DNC and John Podesta’s personal email (even though it came from an illegal break-in). But he’s against leaking when it makes Trump and Russia look bad.

    Iron-clad consistency.
    Got it.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MisterForkbeard: Most of this, without the leaked documentation, has been reported in open source news media for months. Maybe not to this level of granularity and detail. I’ve linked to several of these in some of my maskirovka posts.

    Also, before anyone asks, other than seeing the tweets above summarizing the article, I haven’t read it as I don’t need to know.

  39. 39.

    zhena gogolia

    So where do we contribute to Reality’s defense fund? (If I’m understanding this story correctly.)

  42. 42.

    TenguPhule

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    It is amazing how little condemnation these leaks get. Disclosure of content of intercepted calls is one of the most serious leaking crimes

    Still too soon to call for Drone Strikes on Greenwald?

    What would it take, a tape of him actually pledging a loyalty oath to Putin?

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Bobby Thomson: This was GG and company burning US sources and methods. Now the question that will have to be asked is whether she sought this job to specifically steal stuff like this and send it to the Intercept.

  46. 46.

    Quinerly

    @zhena gogolia:
    Pete Williams just reported that Reality’s lawyers say she hopes to put all of this behind her quickly. So maybe it won’t cost us that much.?

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    @Major Major Major Major: So DOJ basically confirms that the document is legit…so confirm Russia hacking during the election..

    And this young woman will likely, get the book thrown at her that they couldn’t throw at Eddie Snow…

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    @zhena gogolia: Yes. Because reality doesn’t care about the comforting lies and myths you tell yourself to justify your beliefs and actions and those of others.

  58. 58.

    bystander

    Michael Isikoff is on Wretched Gretchen blaming the attack on Obama. Obama was not forceful enough. Weak, feckless. I’ve hated Isikoff for decades now.

  59. 59.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    Can we all agree 25-year-olds should not receive Top Secret clearance?

    No. We can’t.

    We can agree all Republicans should never receive clearance. For anything.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I have not reviewed the leaked documents they have posted. But from reading those that have the documents apparently burn US sources and methods. That’s why he did this. As I wrote in comment 38, most of this has been reported in the news though without the granularity for months. Many of those stories I’ve linked to in maskirovka posts.

  61. 61.

    p.a.

    What, if any, are the investigative repercussions? Because politically, this is great: more shite on the wall that the Retrumpsters were in with the Russkies (perception= reality *ahem* which has been the Rethug m.o. for decades.)

  66. 66.

    TenguPhule

    @p.a.:

    What, if any, are the investigative repercussions?

    Intercept can kiss its intelligent sources goodbye.

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: At this point I’m going with the former. They could have curated the document in such a way as to have not done so. That others who have reviewed what they’ve posted indicate that they didn’t, then you have to conclude deliberate.

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    But from reading those that have the documents apparently burn US sources and methods. That’s why he did this.

    Our country has dispatched CIA janitors for lesser crimes.

    Just saying.

  69. 69.

    germy

    Ryan Lizza ✔@RyanLizza

    From @theintercept: “the NSA document was provided to us anonymously. The Intercept has no knowledge of the identity of the source.”

  70. 70.

    ruckus

    @debbie:
    What do you do for those people in the military who are 18-25 and need a TS clearance to do their job?

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    @Adam L Silverman: So the NSA? let’s someone who they know is working for the Intercept? To get her hands on an actual document? Which she then takes to the Intercept which allows the feds to search their offices?

    Man my head aches.

    And he name is Winner. Reality Winner. I think they did curate some of the documents…..

    ETA Who does one think of when one thinks of a Reality (Show) and the word Winner?

  75. 75.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Makes you wonder how they authenticated it.

    that’s exactly what I was wondering. Doesn’t an anonymous source mean the reporter keeps his/her source anonymous, not “this story I’m reporting; I have no idea who gave it to me” ?

  76. 76.

    Anne Laurie

    @SiubhanDuinne: Quote from a parody-detective novel, from memory: “Yes, my first name is Chance. My parents were in their forties when I was born — they’d have named me Catastrophe, if they knew how to spell it.”

  77. 77.

    tobie

    Can we use this story to demonstrate the dangers of privatizing government services, utilities, and infrastructure? All day I’ve been trying to think of ways to link the effort to privatize the FAA with debacles like putting the electric grid in the hands of companies like Enron.

    Winner is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation assigned to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia.Winner is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation assigned to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia.

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Immanentize: This was a contract hire. I have no idea how she was vetted – by either the contractor or the Special Security Officer (SSO) at FT Gordon. Also, we do not know now, and we may never know, whether she sought the job to do something like this or decided on her own to do so after being hired or she was approached to do it.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @debbie: Why set the number at 25? Aldrich Ames was much older than that when he became a traitor. Age has nothing to do with it.

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: I’m not a reporter, but as someone trained to do a niche, fusion type of intel work I’d be hesitant to present anything to anyone if I didn’t know who the source was. Because I wouldn’t be able to validate the source.

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Anne Laurie:

    LOL, what a wonderful opening!

    (For Omnes Omnibus: Almost as good as “He was born with the gift of laughter, and the sense that the world was mad.”)

  85. 85.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Adam L Silverman: Right. Not seeing much new here other than that there is evidently a classified report that explicitly talks about all these things in one place.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @Omnes Omnibus: Didn’t you see the post the other day about how millennials are killing Applebee’s? Would you trust such people with top secret clearance?

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    This is an interesting thread from Mark Zaid, one of the top clearance, natsec, and whistleblower attorneys in DC:

    Click over for the rest.

  93. 93.

    germy

    Here are two reader comments I found interesting:

    I’ve seen a shift in the Trump support camp over the last 6 months:

    “Malarkey! There’s no evidence the Russians hacked the election” >

    “There was no collusion between the Russians who hacked the election and the Trump camp” >

    “The Russians aren’t so bad compared to Killary!”

    This wasn’t a hack of voting machines. So paper ballots wouldn’t have done a thing. The hacking was directed at voter registration databases. An attack would (did?) consist of things like purging people they ID’d as Dems, changing info so they wouldn’t be able to provide “correct” verifying info when voting, or sending ballots to the wrong place. Which is to say, it would have looked like the ongoing voter suppression efforts the GOP is already engaged in.

  94. 94.

    debbie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, I do know that the pre-frontal cortex (center of decision-making, impulse control, and weighing of consequences) isn’t fully developed until the late 20s. I also know that people now are more willing to set aside ethics and honesty than in the past.

    Maybe it’s not just an age thing, but certainly they need a more rigorous screening process.

  95. 95.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: I didn’t go to Applelee’s when I was in my early 20s either. I’ve never gotten over that habit either. Maybe I am not the best judge of this.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @germy: That second comment is really frightening. But as a few have said, including Hillary, the Russians would really need some guidance in that kind of effort.

  97. 97.

    Tenar Arha

    @debbie: Not possible. No really, it’s not possible. Partly simply because of the default is to classify too much so there’s lots of departments you’d think wouldn’t need that info, that do. Also, a lot of people in the military and doing intelligence analysis simply could not do their jobs without some accessing classified information. Even federal records managers have to have clearances depending on the departments they work with. (Though they’d probably beat your suggested age cut-off because librarians, archivists and records managers are usually older because of second career syndrome and they usually need a Masters degree).

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Michael Isikoff is on Wretched Gretchen blaming the attack on Obama. Obama was not forceful enough. Weak, feckless. I’ve hated Isikoff for decades now.

    if we had gotten in a hot war in Syria, or Ukraine, Putin wouldn’t have launched spear-phishing schemes?

  100. 100.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:

    Looks like the Intercept accomplished what they wanted – they burned their own source by publishing the image with the creases.

    Not to go all James Angleton, but you have to wonder if this is a set up from the start. Why would anyone leak Russia hacking info to an outlet that is openly hostile to the russia hacking storyline.

  102. 102.

    Adam L Silverman

    @zhena gogolia: I honestly am not sure. Given what we really know about Snowden, which is that the reported/promoted story/history of what he did, why he did it, when he decided to do it is all BS made up to cover an anti-US infiltration operation and that GG and The Intercept were right in the middle of that garbage I would not be surprised to find that she was approached. If so I also expect that GG will have a cover story in place, as he did for Snowden, and he will try to stick to it. The difference is that unlike Snowden Ms Winner is in custody. And that means it will be harder to maintain the cover story if she was approached and turned.

    Right now all her financials are being pored through. As are her social media and other communications. As well as every connection she’s got trying to map out the who, what, where, why, and when. And they’re going to squeeze her hard. If this wasn’t something she came up with on her own, because she’s in custody and pressure can be brought to bear, then other people are going to be in a world of hurt too.

  104. 104.

    geg6

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    She’s young. Maybe a Bernista or Paulite. Probably worships Snowden. Thought she had a scoop they’d want. Didn’t really think it through. The Intercept is all the rage with that crowd, you know. I could totally see how it happened, being that I work with hundreds from that age group every day.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: That’s not why you do this type of hacking. You do it to weaponize social media. Think feeding Mercer’s political PSYOPS program at Cambridge Analytica.

  108. 108.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Given what we really know about Snowden, which is that the reported/promoted story/history of what he did, why he did it, when he decided to do it is all BS made up to cover and anti-US infiltration operation and that GG and The Intercept were right in the middle of that garbage

    Wait, what? We know this? How? Where? I want to know more about this!

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: I still don’t get it. She’s part of a plot by GG to obviate the legitimate leaks by the IC?

    or ( and I came in late and tried to follow this conversation backwards) GG is part of a scheme to delegitimize those leaks, whether he knows it or not? (I’m a great believer in the Useful Idiot/Unwitting Pawn Theory, whether it’s GG, Rudi G, or trumpy himself)

  114. 114.

    Frank Wilhoit

    Well, here it is: the first cyber war; and it has already begun, and so far, we’re losing.

    Whether we ultimately win depends upon whether we can figure out WHAT we are losing.

  116. 116.

    Immanentize

    @Frank Wilhoit: Well can we start with, we lost our Presidency? Maybe there was no collusion, but it sure feels like Trump knows something happened with Russia to let him win.

  119. 119.

    moops

    So…GG burned his source in just a single day? Nice. No hidden agenda for that d-bag.

  122. 122.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman: But did GG have anything to do with the story? He’s not the publisher, just a contributor. I thought the hacking piece was the work of other writers, not him.

  123. 123.

    clay

    @Adam L Silverman: I’ve never leaked stolen government documents — and I’ve no intention to — but I have to think I’d do it smarter than she did.

    I wonder if GG will feel guilty over his unintentional (?) burn…

  126. 126.

    germy

    @different-church-lady:

    Greenwald is one of the editors, not just a contributor.

    Was he involved in publishing the story? I was under the impression it was his colleagues, and now he’s busy on twitter saying “we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about this story” etc.

  127. 127.

    germy

    saw this comment on LGM

    twbb says:
    June 5, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    The Intercept is a little weird in that it seems their writers have fairly wide discretion to write what they want.

    Like, it used to be constant Russia apologetics from Greenwald, but some of their other writers are all on board the Russiagate train. Like the new hacking stories have 4 authors, none of them Greenwald.

    Speaking of which, I can’t find any recent Greenwald stories. I think something may be up, because he used to post constantly.

  128. 128.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:
    You can not.
    I believe that too much is secret and there are way too many people with clearance to really control it. But you still have to have secrets and you still have to have people with clearances. Many people in the military need clearances to do their jobs and most of the enlisted people are going to be under 25. I had a TS clearance at 21. It’s the way the world works. Not all the under 25 yr olds are a clearance risk. And it’s that word, risk. There will always be one. No matter the age of the people with the clearance. dumpf is 70 and my dog is a dramatically better risk than he is. Yet he has far more than a basic clearance. Hell, my dog would be a better president than dumpf, let alone a better clearance risk.

  129. 129.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Adam L Silverman:

    who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to give anyone named Reality a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information with Special Access Program access clearance?

    Hell, they trusted me with SCI clearance, a few careers ago.
    No-one ever asked, “Are you qualified in psychology, with experience in psychometrics?” before my psych evaluation.

  134. 134.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    How would you fix it so Manning and Snowden couldn’t do what they did?

    By making examples of them.

    “You may steal for the Russians, but you will never live to enjoy the fruits of your crime.”

  135. 135.

    misterpuff

    @debbie: Hey you kids. Stop leaking on my lawn!

    I mean its like a whole generation distrusts the government and the Russians. Their ideas are intriguing to me. I wish to subscribe to their newsletter.

  137. 137.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: I have no idea. Perhaps a more accurate way of phrasing it is that The Intercept burned her when they contacted the government in an attempt to validate the information she passed them.

  138. 138.

    nightranger

    The Intercept…lol.

    I knew wrong way Cole still has a man crush on Griftwald.

  140. 140.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for the linkies. #4 in the House report was obvious (to me) from his first interview with the SCMP. He’s a liar, and he never should have been trusted by BAH, or anyone else, with a position of trust under the United States. He did a lot of damage to our politics, also too.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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