Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com
Retired four-star Army general Barry McCaffrey issued a dire warning Friday, saying he has reached the conclusion that Trump poses a “serious threat to US national security.”
In a tweet posted late Friday afternoon, McCaffrey said he “reluctantly” came to that conclusion based on Trump’s refusal “to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks.”
Trump’s inaction in the face of Russian aggression makes it “apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr. Putin,” he added.
Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin.
— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) March 16, 2018
McAffrey’s comments come just a day after the Department of Homeland Security reported that Russian state hackers had remotely targeted the U.S. power grid as part of a multi-stage effort to compromise specific government entities and critical infrastructure.
Since at least March 2016, Russia has carried out cyberattacks aimed at infiltrating targets including “energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors,” the report says. Although they haven’t gone this far yet, the details outlined in the DHS report show that Russian hackers have the access they need to disrupt or even shut down power plants and other critical infrastructure throughout the U.S.
The DHS report was released just weeks after senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that Russia had compromised state election websites or voter registration systems in at least seven states prior to the 2016 election.
As alarming as these reports are, the most startling report of all was delivered by NSA chief Mike Rogers, who confirmed last month that he has not been directed by Trump, through the defense secretary, to confront Russian cyber-attackers at the source.
Meanwhile, Trump — with the assistance of his Republican allies in Congress — continues to cast doubt on the findings of the U.S. intelligence community, which concluded last year that Russia had ordered an expansive intelligence operation aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Trump in the 2016 election.
And just this week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders delivered a sharp rebuke of a twenty-year veteran of the FBI — calling him a “bad actor” — but then refused to say whether the Trump administration considers Russia to be a bad actor.
It’s undeniable that Trump behaves like someone who is compromised by Russia. There’s only question at this point — why?
