President Trump’s defense against the continuing interference in America’s elections by the Russians is nonexistent. His Secretary of State said – on national T.V. - that the United States “…may not be capable of doing anything” to counter the Russian attacks.
Not one of the 23 analysts working in the State Department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian.
Trump’s hiring freeze prevents the center from employing the linguists and computer experts necessary to even track Russia’s assaults on American democracy, much less stop them.
In the Fall of 2016 Congress directed the Pentagon to send $60 million to the U.S. State Department to coordinate government-wide efforts, (including those by the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security) to counter anti-democratic propaganda by Russia and China.
Trump’s State Department did not even request the money from the Defense Department until Sept. of 2017. Another $60 million became available this year, and the administration just now announced that the Pentagon will transfer a total of $40 million dollars for the effort -
⅓ of what Congress and the previous administration intended.
The previous administration had provided $1.3 billion in assistance to strengthen European resilience to Russian meddling. The Trump administration has proposed slashing that assistance by more than ½ for the coming year, and even less for the next year.
There can be no logical reasoning behind this behavior outside of stupidity, cowardice, or treason.
President Trump’s defense against the continuing interference in America’s elections by the Russians is nonexistent. His Secretary of State said – on national T.V. - that the United States “…may not be capable of doing anything” to counter the Russian attacks.
Not one of the 23 analysts working in the State Department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian.
Trump’s hiring freeze prevents the center from employing the linguists and computer experts necessary to even track Russia’s assaults on American democracy, much less stop them.
In the Fall of 2016 Congress directed the Pentagon to send $60 million to the U.S. State Department to coordinate government-wide efforts, (including those by the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security) to counter anti-democratic propaganda by Russia and China.
Trump’s State Department did not even request the money from the Defense Department until Sept. of 2017. Another $60 million became available this year, and the administration just now announced that the Pentagon will transfer a total of $40 million dollars for the effort -
⅓ of what Congress and the previous administration intended.The previous administration had provided $1.3 billion in assistance to strengthen European resilience to Russian meddling. The Trump administration has proposed slashing that assistance by more than ½ for the coming year, and even less for the next year.
There can be no logical reasoning behind this behavior outside of stupidity, cowardice, or treason.
.