2016 ELECTION/CYBERWAR/NIKKI HALEY/RUSSIA/UN: “U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Thursday that interference in U.S. elections by another nation ‘is warfare,’ telling an audience in New York that such meddling has become Russia’s go-to tactic…
While President Donald Trump has questioned at times whether or not the Russian government was behind a campaign of cyberattacks targeting last year’s presidential race, Haley and other administration officials have been unequivocal in blaming the Kremlin for the 2016 election meddling.
Russia’s 2016 efforts in the U.S. matched a pattern of Kremlin campaigns to influence elections across Europe, including in Baltic states and most recently in France, where centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron defeated right-wing populist Marine Le Pen.
Haley said U.S. intelligence agencies are ‘working overtime’ to combat cybersecurity threats.
Despite his occasional suggestion that Russia may not have been to blame — or may not have been solely to blame — for last year’s election interference efforts, Trump signed legislation late last summer imposing a fresh batch of sanctions on Russia. Those sanctions prompted Russia to order the U.S. to reduce its staffing levels in Russia, a step that prompted the State Department to make similar demands of the Russian government.”
-Louis Nelson, “Nikki Haley on Russia meddling: Election interference is ‘warfare’,” Politico, Oct. 19, 2017 11:30am