2016 ELECTION/ELECTION/FBI/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said Thursday [8-2-18] that Russia’s efforts to disrupt the 2018 U.S. elections were ‘pervasive’ but have so far fallen short of Moscow’s campaign to interfere in the 2016 vote. Speaking at a White House briefing at a time when the administration is facing criticism for not doing enough to address the threat of Russian election interference, Mr. Coats said President Trump had directed intelligence agencies to make election hacking a ‘top priority’…Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said intelligence agencies haven’t yet seen the ‘same kinds of efforts to specifically target election infrastructure’ in which Moscow engaged in 2016, for example interfering with voter registration databases. Russia’s efforts so far have focused on ‘malign influence operations,’ which he called ‘information warfare.’ U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia undertook a broad effort to interfere in the 2016 election, directed at the highest levels of its government. Tactics included hacking state election systems; infiltrating and leaking information from party committees and political strategists; and disseminating through social media and other outlets negative stories about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and positive ones about Mr. Trump.”
-Rebecca Ballhaus and Dustin Volz, “U.S. Intelligence Officials Warn of ‘Pervasive’ Russian Efforts to Disrupt 2018 Elections,” The Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2018 3:15 pm