But they keep finding witches...

[_Themis]

Look, the Russians preferred Obama, he must have been in their pocket. Clearly his presidency proves that, right? He gave them everything they wanted.

LOL Not even one example. Do we see democrats saying Russians interfered with elections to get Obama elected like we see Republicans saying about Trump? Do we see government agencies saying the same thing? Do we see Obama treating allies as enemies and wanting to get along better with Russia at the same time? Did Obama ever say we should recognize Crimea as Russian territory? Do we see indictments like we are seeing with people around Trump? You are not even in the ball park. Like I said, bad people can get away with anything with their followers.

[_EAllusion]

LOL. In the other thread I sarcastically joked about identifying the hacker because they failed to use a VPN. And now it turns out that truly is what this is based on? They have an IP address from Russia. Wow, that's some hard hitting evidence right there. Madness.

No, that's a start that allows further unraveling, which is clearly in what I linked.

Also, some of my links are 1) things I've linked to you before and 2) responses from you about those links. Seems odd to claim you've never seen that before. Is this someone else posting under the Water Dog account?

[_Maksutov]

Poor Dog believes in the Deep State. SMH.

Yes, I do. I am one of its employees.

I was a fed for 33 years. What you are probably calling the "Deep State" are career people who often represent very valuable human capital. Their loyalty is not in question. Their accomplishments are not in question. The question here is whether you are loyal to Americans or to Russians. That is not complicated. If you are inclined to favor a foreign government's interests over those of American citizens and the United States of America, I suggest you resign your commission or position immediately. I am absolutely serious.

[_honorentheos]

LOL. In the other thread I sarcastically joked about identifying the hacker because they failed to use a VPN. And now it turns out that truly is what this is based on? They have an IP address from Russia. Wow, that's some hard hitting evidence right there. Madness.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... e-dnc-hack

The forensic evidence linking the DNC breach to known Russian operations is very strong. On June 20, two competing cybersecurity companies, Mandiant (part of FireEye) and Fidelis, confirmed CrowdStrike's initial findings that Russian intelligence indeed hacked the DNC. The forensic evidence that links network breaches to known groups is solid: used and reused tools, methods, infrastructure, even unique encryption keys. For example: in late March the attackers registered a domain with a typo—misdepatrment[.]com—to look suspiciously like the company hired by the DNC to manage its network, MIS Department. They then linked this deceptive domain to a long-known APT 28 so-called X-Tunnel command-and-control IP address, 45.32.129[.]185.

One of the strongest pieces of evidence linking GRU to the DNC hack is the equivalent of identical fingerprints found in two burglarized buildings: a reused command-and-control address—176.31.112[.]10—that was hard coded in a piece of malware found both in the German parliament as well as on the DNC's servers. Russian military intelligence was identified by the German domestic security agency BfV as the actor responsible for the Bundestag breach. The infrastructure behind the fake MIS Department domain was also linked to the Berlin intrusion through at least one other element, a shared SSL certificate.

The evidence linking the Guccifer 2.0 account to the same Russian operators is not as solid, yet a deception operation—a GRU false flag, in technical jargon—is still highly likely. Intelligence operatives and cybersecurity professionals long knew that such false flags were becoming more common. One noteworthy example was the sabotage of France's TV5 Monde station on 9/10 April 2015, initially claimed by the mysterious "CyberCaliphate," a group allegedly linked to ISIS. Then, in June, the French authorities suspected the same infamous APT 28 group behind the TV5 Monde breach, in preparation since January of that year. But the DNC deception is the most detailed and most significant case study so far. The technical details are as remarkable as its strategic context.

The metadata in the leaked documents are perhaps most revealing: one dumped document was modified using Russian language settings, by a user named "Феликс Эдмундович," a code name referring to the founder of the Soviet Secret Police, the Cheka, memorialised in a 15-ton iron statue in front of the old KGB headquarters during Soviet times. The original intruders made other errors: one leaked document included hyperlink error messages in Cyrillic, the result of editing the file on a computer with Russian language settings. After this mistake became public, the intruders removed the Cyrillic information from the metadata in the next dump and carefully used made-up user names from different world regions, thereby confirming they had made a mistake in the first round.

Then there is the language issue. "I hate being attributed to Russia," the Guccifer 2.0 account told Motherboard, probably accurately. The person at the keyboard then claimed in a chat with Motherboard's Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai that Guccifer 2.0 was from Romania, like the original Guccifer, a well-known hacker. But when asked to explain his hack in Romanian, he was unable to respond colloquially and without errors. Guccifer 2.0's English initially was also weak, but in subsequent posts the quality improved sharply, albeit only on political subjects, not in technical matters—an indication of a team of operators at work behind the scenes.

Other features are also suspicious. One is timing, as ThreatConnect, another security company, has pointed out in a useful analysis: various timestamps indicate that the Guccifer-branded leaking operation was prompted by the DNC's initial publicity, with preparation starting around 24 hours after CrowdStrike's report came out. Both APT 28 and Guccifer were using French infrastructure for communications. ThreatConnect then pointed out that both the self-proclaimed hacker's technical statements on the use of 0-day exploits as well as the alleged timeline of the DNC breach are most likely false. Another odd circumstantial finding: sock-puppet social media accounts may have been created specifically to amplify and extend Guccifer's reach, as UK intelligence startup Ripjar told me.

Perhaps most curiously, the Guccifer 2.0 account, from the beginning, was not simply claiming to have breached the DNC network—but claiming that two Russian actors actually were not on the DNC network at the same time. It is common to find multiple intruders in tempting yet badly defended networks. Nevertheless the Guccifer 2.0 account claimed confidently, and with no supporting evidence, that the breach was simply a "lone hacker"—a phrasing that seems designed to deflect blame from Russia. Guccifer 2.0's availability to the journalists was also surprising, and something new altogether.

The combative yet error-prone handling of the Guccifer account is in line with the GRU's aggressive and risk-taking organizational culture and a wartime mindset prevalent in the Russian intelligence community. Russia's agencies see themselves as instruments of direct action, working in support of a fragile Russia under siege by the West, especially the United States.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Yes, I do. I am one of its employees.

I was a fed for 33 years. What you are probably calling the "Deep State" are career people who often represent very valuable human capital. Their loyalty is not in question. Their accomplishments are not in question. The question here is whether you are loyal to Americans or to Russians. That is not complicated. If you are inclined to favor a foreign government's interests over those of American citizens and the United States of America, I suggest you resign your commission or position immediately. I am absolutely serious.

What you describe is exactly what I think the Deep State is. It's a sort of mooring that keeps our Republic from devolving into one of the banana persuasion. Thank god Presidents just can't come in and do whatever the “F” they want. God help us if there weren't bureaucrats and bureaucratic layers to governing.

- Doc

[_Water Dog]

I was a fed for 33 years. What you are probably calling the "Deep State" are career people who often represent very valuable human capital. Their loyalty is not in question. Their accomplishments are not in question. The question here is whether you are loyal to Americans or to Russians. That is not complicated. If you are inclined to favor a foreign government's interests over those of American citizens and the United States of America, I suggest you resign your commission or position immediately. I am absolutely serious.

The “F”? Are you suggesting that career bureaucrats should see themselves as existing within a fourth branch of government, independent of the electorate? Are you suggesting that career bureaucrats, and by extension an entrenched bureaucracy, cannot have its own biases and self-serving interests? Thirty three years in the system though, that does explain some things :)

[_Water Dog]

What you describe is exactly what I think the Deep State is. It's a sort of mooring that keeps our Republic from devolving into one of the banana persuasion. Thank god Presidents just can't come in and do whatever the “F” they want. God help us if there weren't bureaucrats and bureaucratic layers to governing.

I'll be honest that I find this comment rather disturbing. You see the federal bureaucracy has having an independent role that oversees the electorate?

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

What you describe is exactly what I think the Deep State is. It's a sort of mooring that keeps our Republic from devolving into one of the banana persuasion. Thank god Presidents just can't come in and do whatever the “F” they want. God help us if there weren't bureaucrats and bureaucratic layers to governing.

I'll be honest that I find this comment rather disturbing. You see the federal bureaucracy has having an independent role that oversees the electorate?

No. I see the feds as being rather anchored in policy and law that prevents politicians from easily doing what they want to do. Since you're familiar with the Army, think of how chaotic it would be if every Captain Goodideafairy was able to do whatever he wanted to do, especially if it meant to benefit him at his Soldiers' expense, both literally and figuratively. Same deal with the "deep state" gubmint.

- Doc

[_Water Dog]

No. I see the feds as being rather anchored in policy and law that prevents politicians from easily doing what they want to do. Since you're familiar with the Army, think of how chaotic it would be if every Captain Goodideafairy was able to do whatever he wanted to do, especially if it meant to benefit him at his Soldiers' expense, both literally and figuratively. Same deal with the "deep state" gubmint.

I see what you're saying, but it works in both directions. Ideally the bureaucracy should be nimble and react to the electorate rather than being an organism unto itself that grows endlessly. What's the saying, patriotism is the last refuse of a scoundrel. With the present situation you've got career bureaucrats acting in both open and silent defiance of President. They may be chanting 'Merica, but their job security is all they really care about.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

They may be chanting 'Merica, but their job security is all they really care about.

Well. They're human. And do you really want a government that can be totally swept way and staffed with partisans every few years? How would you enjoy working directly for some of the most partisan Leftists on this board?

- Doc