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United States Government Security Politics

Secret Service, DHS Scramble To Secure America's Election (yahoo.com) 360

Posted by EditorDavid from the eternal-vigilance dept.
Secret service agents rushed Donald Trump off a stage in Nevada Saturday night, CNN reports. "A scuffle could be seen breaking out in the audience, but it was not immediately clear what happened... Secret Service and police tactical units rushed in to detain a man [who] was then rushed by a throng of police officers, Secret Service agents and SWAT officers armed with assault rifles to a side room... A law enforcement official told CNN no weapon was discovered. The GOP nominee was apparently unharmed and returned to the stage minutes later to finish his speech." Meanwhile, an anonymous reader writes: "All but two U.S. states have accepted help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to probe and scan voter registration and election systems for vulnerabilities, a department official told Reuters." Ohio is relying on the National Guard's cyber protection unit, while Arizona says they've held discussions with the FBI, DHS and state-level agents on cyber security. But in addition, "U.S. military hackers have penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications networks and the Kremlin's command systems, making them vulnerable to attack by secret American cyber weapons should the U.S. deem it necessary, according to a senior intelligence official and top-secret documents reviewed by NBC News."

American officials believe Russian hacking efforts will continue through 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. "By hacking and dumping emails, Russia is trying 'to denigrate the American electoral system, to make it look chaotic, make it look manipulable, make it look subject to intrusion, cheating and vulnerable so you can't trust it...to make us look no better than the Russian electoral system,'" said one senior White House official. Russia is also expected to extend their efforts toward elections in Europe.
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Secret Service, DHS Scramble To Secure America's Election More

Secret Service, DHS Scramble To Secure America's Election

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  • Obviously, a failed time travel mission (Score:5, Funny)

    by BenJeremy ( 181303 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @10:41PM (#53221261)

    So close...

    • Cosmodrome (available here if you subscribe https://www.netflix.com/title/... [netflix.com] probably many other places if you don't) shows the Russians keeping pigs in their failed moon race rocket facility. Their leadership doesn't lose very gracefully.

  • It was a guy with a sign ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thrillseeker ( 518224 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @10:48PM (#53221285)
    ... that said "Republicans Against Trump", and then some unidentified asshole yelled "gun!" and the crowd went wild - hope they find the asshole that yelled "Fire in a crowded theater" just for the hell of it, and hang his ass.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      What happened to that campaign to allow guns at the rallies?

    • Excerpt from a first hand account [reddit.com]

      I'm a bit shaken still, but I wanted to get this out there: the crazy guy [i.sli.mg] had a REPUBLICANS AGAINST TRUMP sign. He started shoving his way towards the front of the crowd. I was 3 people back from the front row and about 6 feet from this guy. He started to jump up and down and almost acting like a mosh pit.

      He was pushing and shoving people. He knocked people over, including elderly. Children were right there, too. You see trump shade his eyes twice as he watches what is hap

  • The summary forgot to mention something... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @10:50PM (#53221293)

    It doesn't help that someone shouted "gun" when the protester stood up with a sign.

    A Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement that an "unidentified individual" shouted "gun" in the audience, though no weapon was found after a "thorough search."

  • I wonder how they will target europe (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05, 2016 @10:57PM (#53221301)
    Since at least in the Netherlands (and presumably in the rest of Europe) we don't use electronic voting and we require voter ID.

    • not in N.C. (Score:4, Funny)

      by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:19PM (#53221383)
      In N.C. the feds struck down our law to require ID because it discriminated against those wanting to commit voter fraud.

      • Re:not in N.C. (Score:5, Informative)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:33PM (#53221435)

        In N.C. the feds struck down our law to require ID because it discriminated against those wanting to commit voter fraud.

        It was a bit more complicated than that. NC Republicans hired consultants and statisticians to analyse voting patterns, and then legislated restrictions on early voting, closed polling places in minority neighborhoods, and yes, instituted voter ID requirements. All of this was carefully planned and scientifically designed to suppress minority voting. Basically, NC Republicans Moneyballed racism.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by swb ( 14022 )

          Why is there a Republican conspiracy to prevent minorities from voting, but no Republican conspiracy to keep minorities off airplanes or any other location that requires positive ID?

          Frankly I'm more worried about the every day constraints on free movement than the periodic and de minimis reduction in voting.

      • Re:not in N.C. (Score:5, Informative)

        by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:35PM (#53221445) Journal

        Voter fraud is extremely rare, and the courts are enforcing federal law that makes sure people like you can't use it for cover to disenfranchise minorities.

        • Voter fraud is extremely rare, and the courts are enforcing federal law that makes sure people like you can't use it for cover to disenfranchise minorities.

          Not entirely.

          It's beyond doubt that a lot of mail-in votes, if they're not actually filled in by a spouse, are done with the spouse's supervision (probably the man) to make sure the right candidate is being chosen.

          Of course this kind of fraud is very hard to prove. And since mail-in voters are predominantly Republican no one is trying to suppress it.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by Orgasmatron ( 8103 )

          I applaud you sir! You have, in your mind, defined the problem so narrowly that you are only willing to see evidence that cannot possibly exist. You must've been paying attention in Gaslighting 101 [infogalactic.com].

          I assure you that only diehard fanatics like yourself obsess over whatever activity you specifically define as "voter fraud". Most of us humans, however, are gravely concerned about honest and fair elections, and the threats are many, including voter fraud, election fraud, and whatever other forms of fraud cou

          • Anyone that cares to spend a little time searching can probably find similar stories from nearly any state. Oh, and of course the Project Veritas Action videos show people discussing the mechanics of successful fraud, clearly from a position of personal knowledge.

            Keep in mind that a lot of this fraud is very hard to prove. In nearly every story, the people involved protest their innocence. Bank robbers caught in the act tend to do that too, of course, as do innocent people. A year from now, we'll know the extent of the fraud that was caught and prosecuted, and maybe have an idea of the fraud that was caught, but not prosecuted, and absolutely no idea how much fraud was not caught.

            This happens every election cycle. Republicans claim they've found absolute proof of countless cases of voter fraud and the right wing media starts freaking out that the election was stolen!

            Then authorities investigate, and they find a bunch of administrative errors and no actual cases of ineligible people voting or voter impersonation, although sometimes a permanent resident will get confused while filling out paper work and end up registering to vote as well.

            Of course the right wing media doesn't actually

          • Re:not in N.C. (Score:5, Insightful)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday November 06, 2016 @07:49AM (#53222595) Homepage Journal

            You links are all innuendo and speculation. Not one links to an actual investigation showing proof that fraud took place. That's because...

            Voter fraud really isn't a big problem. [youtu.be] 31 probable cases out of over 1 billion votes cast.

            The precision with which they target African American voters is pretty shocking. [youtu.be] For example, they researched various types of ID and then banned the ones most common with African Americans, only allowing the types that white people are more likely to have. They blocked early voting because African Americans were often motivated to vote by their church on a Sunday.

            These laws are not about stopping largely imaginary and totally insignificant fraud. Stop believing Trump, he doesn't have any evidence that its rigged against him or he would have requested a formal investigation. They are about stopping Democrats voting, by targeting certain groups, often by race.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 )
          Obama is encouraging illegals to vote in our election. [redstatewatcher.com] I love the part about voter fraud being extremely rare. What a laugh. Ever been to Chicago?

        • > Voter fraud is extremely rare

          Exactly how do we know that when we've made it nearly impossible to find unless the person doing it is a moron?

        • First, I'm trying to understand why people think ANY level of fraud is ok.

          Second, The President of the United States is on YouTube telling ILLEGAL aliens not to be scared to vote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCLO0WBvhF8

      • In N.C. the feds struck down our law to require ID because it discriminated against those wanting to commit voter fraud.

        So far, it looks like the only ones committing voter fraud are Republicans. From: Republicans and the Myth of Election Fraud [nytimes.com]

        Many of these voter-suppression measures have become law despite clear evidence that voter fraud is practically nonexistent.

        Recently, though, a fraud case did arise — though it wasn’t exactly the kind that Republicans have so loudly warned about.

        Last week, around the time when Donald J. Trump was in Iowa, the Des Moines police arrested a resident named Terri Lynn Rote on suspicion of voter fraud, a Class D felony in Iowa. Apparently persuaded by Mr. Trump’s rhetoric that the “system is rigged,” Ms. Rote, the police said, cast ballots for Mr. Trump at two early voting sites.

        In Florida, another crucial swing state where Mr. Trump has fumed about a vast conspiracy to rig the election against him, a poll worker in Miami, Gladys Coego, was accused of illegally marking ballots on behalf of a Republican mayoral candidate. She has also been arrested.

        Apparently, NC has been trying especially hard to suppress Democratic voters:

        Unfortunately, early voting in North Carolina has already demonstrated the need for greater voter-protection efforts. When the Fourth Circuit’s ruling late last summer required restoration of early voting hours, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, Dallas Woodhouse, sent a memo instructing Republican members of local election boards to make “party line” decisions in early voting plans. These orders were sent — and to a large degree carried out — despite the court’s statement that using race as a proxy for party “constitutes discriminatory purpose.”

        • Lets be sure we all understand what has long been going on. For decades the Democrats were in power and set up voting districts. There was one insanely gerrymandered district that cut across a large portion of the state, and the Democrats were quite clear that they had done it for racial reasons. When the Republicans finally got power and drew up districts the Democrats claimed they improperly used race as a basis to create the districts, and Democratically controlled federal courts sided with them. See any

          • See anything strange there?

            Nope. The Democrats used to be the party of the racists, which is why they controlled the deep south. Then LBJ got the Civil Rights Act passed, and enforced it, which caused the racists in the deep south to switch to the Republican party... but the racists remained in control.

            So, nothing strange at all. The racists gerrymandered districts on a racial basis, regardless of which party they claimed to be in.

            Note that I'm not saying the Democratic party used to be racist, or that the Republican party is now

        • Scroll up. There are far more instances of voter fraud in favor of Democratic candidates.

          Using a puffed-up New York Times deflection piece (written and published in response to the revelations of the Democrats cheating, as referenced above) doesn't help your non-argument.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GNious ( 953874 )

      There are places with electronic voting in the EU - Estonia was one of the first one to introduce it.

  • And that's how it is done (Score:4, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:16PM (#53221367)

    All but two U.S. states have accepted help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

    I would much rather have someone that I trust helping than the D.H.S.

    • All but two U.S. states have accepted help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

      I would much rather have someone that I trust helping than the D.H.S.

      Just be thankful we're not getting the help from the TSA.

  • Does anyone else think this is insane? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:25PM (#53221403) Homepage Journal

    But in addition, "U.S. military hackers have penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications networks and the Kremlin's command systems, making them vulnerable to attack by secret American cyber weapons should the U.S. deem it necessary, according to a senior intelligence official and top-secret documents reviewed by NBC News."

    Is it just me, or does anyone else think that this is insane?

    Assange never gives out details about who his leakers are, but even he took the time to state categorically that the Podesta leakers are did not come from the Russian government [rt.com].

    Clearly he feels that there is some danger here for him to take this extraordinary step.

    Instead of setting up a hair-trigger response shouldn't we first have an investigation, and then approach this through diplomatic channels?

    Ye gods, Putin has to keep the appearance of strength in his country. What do you think he'll do if we start messing with their electrical grid?

    And in other news, we have Obama encouraging illegals to vote [redstatewatcher.com], which would appear at first glance to be Obama committing a felony on camera.

    What the fuck is happening to this country?

    • Re:Does anyone else think this is insane? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Sunday November 06, 2016 @01:14AM (#53221705)

      Assange never gives out details about who his leakers are, but even he took the time to state categorically that the Podesta leakers are did not come from the Russian government [rt.com].

      Clearly he feels that there is some danger here for him to take this extraordinary step.

      Or his source has never clearly identified itself as the Russia government and he's trying to maintain plausible deniability as to not destroy Wikileaks' credibility.

      And in other news, we have Obama encouraging illegals to vote, which would appear at first glance to be Obama committing a felony on camera.

      Which is why you should take a second glance. Did you notice how her question doesn't actually make sense? That's because someone cut off the first part of it and I'm very suspicious of what they left out. What seems to be the general question and answer is the following:

      Interviewer: American citizens who are the children of illegal immigrants are scared to vote because they they'll draw scrutiny and cause their families to be deported.

      Obama: That will not happen.

      What the fuck is happening to this country?

      People are lying to you about the state of the world, and you believe them.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tom ( 822 )

        Or his source has never clearly identified itself as the Russia government and he's trying to maintain plausible deniability as to not destroy Wikileaks' credibility.

        The funny thing is that it shouldn't matter who the source is as long as the information disclosed is true.

        It appears to be true, as not even those who should face jail time over it deny it. If you can't attack the message, attack the messager. And the american public is stupid enough to get so easily distracted. Look, a three-headed monkey !

        • Or his source has never clearly identified itself as the Russia government and he's trying to maintain plausible deniability as to not destroy Wikileaks' credibility.

          The funny thing is that it shouldn't matter who the source is as long as the information disclosed is true.

          The purpose of this disclosure isn't to expose corruption or educate the public, it's to swing an election.

          That is not supposed to be Wikileaks' purpose, and it is why Assange is rightly being criticized.

          It appears to be true, as not even those who should face jail time over it deny it. If you can't attack the message, attack the messager. And the american public is stupid enough to get so easily distracted. Look, a three-headed monkey !

          The fact that something was leaked doesn't actually mean it exposed wrongdoing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )

      What do you think he'll do if we start messing with their electrical grid?

      "Accidentally" shoot down a few US planes over Syria.

    • > Assange never gives out details about who his leakers are, but even he took the time to state categorically that the Podesta leakers are did not come from the Russian government.

      From looking into the leaked Podesta emails, they cut off shortly after a phishing email arrived. It was a completely bogus email from "Google" with a fake bit.ly reset link [wikileaks.org] claiming that his account had been accessed from the Ukraine.

      You'd think the real hackers wouldn't want to point people back at themselves. If anything,

  • Someone isn't very tech savvy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wasted ( 94866 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:32PM (#53221431)

    "By hacking and dumping emails, Russia is trying 'to denigrate the American electoral system, to make it look chaotic, make it look manipulable, make it look subject to intrusion, cheating and vulnerable so you can't trust it...to make us look no better than the Russian electoral system,'" said one senior White House official.

    "Hacking and dumping" emails is not the same as changing vote counts or forcing people to vote a certain way. The exposure of the content of emails was likely embarrassing to the Democratic Party and HRC, but it isn't election tampering.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by phantomfive ( 622387 )
      It's not even clear Russia did anything.
      And the American electoral system looks chaotic enough on its own. It's the people running who make it look bad, not foreign hackers.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by bradley13 ( 1118935 )

      If Russia is behind this, shame on them. However, there is no proof that this is the case. The Hillary campaign declares this, to distract from...

      ...the actual, important issue: the corruption and criminality exposed by those emails. Interestingly, no one is saying that the information is actually incorrect.

  • Paper Ballots Counted At The Precinct Level (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheNarrator ( 200498 ) on Saturday November 05, 2016 @11:37PM (#53221453)

    You want to prevent all hacking? Just use paper ballots counted at the precinct level. India has a billion people and it works just fine. Our election is important enough that it's foolish to trust it to unauditable, easily hacked voting machines when the alternative of hand counting is not that hard.

    • Our election is important enough that it's foolish to trust it to unauditable, easily hacked voting machines when the alternative of hand counting is not that hard.

      To them, our election is important enough that it's foolish to trust it to voters.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tom ( 822 )

      Not just India. Germany is using the same system and it works wonderfully. As I hear, most of Europe uses such a system or variations of it.

  • I wish some time we could get competent people in government.

  • I always wonder (Score:3)

    by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Sunday November 06, 2016 @12:12AM (#53221547)

    How many of these 'crises' are either enormously exaggerated, or manufactured out of whole cloth? After all, they are so very useful for creating jobs, justifying power and autonomy grabs by various TLA's, and distracting the masses from noticing that their basic rights are being systematically torn down and burned.

    Yes, by all means, protect this election. Protect it from becoming a third-rate reality show - a freaky, depraved, but strangely irrelevant spectacle that proudly and defiantly puts the 'circus' in 'bread and circuses'. Oh, wait... it's way too late for that.

    I'm starting to see the attractions of the Libertarian point of view. It's delusional and naive, to be sure - but would it produce a hell any worse that what we're currently experiencing?

  • Trump's been encouraging a climate of violence and fear at his rallies for months' now. I'm just surprised this didn't happen sooner. The real thing to come out of this that'll hurt him is how he sorta hobbled away. Sure, he's 70, and to any sane person that's to be expected. But he's been cultivating an image of virility for months now and having it undermined in the press 3 days before game day is gonna be a problem.

    I forget who said it but somebody said whoever can keep the spotlight off is gonna win

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )

      how he sorta hobbled away

      It's those damn spurs on his feet that kept him out of 'Nam (but not off the track team).
      How the fuck did this trust fund baby that sums up just about everything wrong with America end up getting so far?

  • Not russians as they would use for blackmail (Score:3)

    by EmperorOfCanada ( 1332175 ) on Sunday November 06, 2016 @02:09AM (#53221823)
    I very very very much doubt that this is the work of the russian government. Simply put, given all these emails, they would use them to better understand who is really in power, and then use them for blackmail. AFTER she became president. They wouldn't even blackmail her, but would blackmail some of the various players who wouldn't want these coming out.

    .

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )
      It's just like the climate leak dump before the Copenhagen summit - a big pile of not much released to sow confusion and stop action. The same methods were used in both cases and fingers have been pointed at Russia both times.
      For blackmail there has to be something close to murder or having sex with thirteen year olds (I hope you behaved yourself on those trips to Russia Donald) to have an impact afterwards.

  • Some things I find disturbing:

    "By hacking and dumping emails, Russia is trying 'to denigrate the American electoral system, to make it look chaotic, make it look manipulable, make it look subject to intrusion, cheating and vulnerable so you can't trust it...to make us look no better than the Russian electoral system,'" said one senior White House official. Russia is also expected to extend their efforts toward elections in Europe..."

    Let me get this straight.

    Even IF Russia was dumping Emails, and let me be c

  • incompetence (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Sunday November 06, 2016 @03:19AM (#53221997) Homepage Journal

    Russia is trying 'to denigrate the American electoral system, to make it look chaotic, make it look manipulable, make it look subject to intrusion, cheating and vulnerable so you can't trust it...

    No need to do anything on that front. All of Europe has been laughing about the US voting process for decades. You've got the most complicated, error-prone, untrustworthy election system I personally have ever seen or heard about. The fact that you're incapable of fixing it is the best proof that the whole system is broken beyond repair.

    I'm not just talking voting machines, I also mean Gerrymandering, the fact that you vote on a working day (seriously?) or that there are hour-long queues. You are holding elections the way 3rd world countries hold their first election in history, and it's just absolutely pathetic.

    What could Russia possibly do to discredit this abomination? If I were the russian general in charge, I'd tell my hackers to stay out of this, lest they accidentally fix something and make it better.

    • Oh, we laugh here in Australia too, at the absolute circus that is the US electoral system.
      Any government whose leader is not assured a majority in at least the lower house (Congress) is designed to be dysfunctional.
      Its scary that such lunacy affects the rest of us.

  • Wouldn't that impression reflect reality? (Score:3)

    by Morpf ( 2683099 ) on Sunday November 06, 2016 @04:03AM (#53222093)

    By hacking and dumping emails, Russia is trying 'to denigrate the American electoral system, to make it look chaotic, make it look manipulable, make it look subject to intrusion, cheating and vulnerable so you can't trust it...to make us look no better than the Russian electoral system.

    I'm going out on a limb here, but wouldn't that impression be the actual truth? How the democrats rigged against Sanders, that apparently the Democrats and their candidat got hacked, we know for ages that voting machines are not trustworthy, there is the concept of gerrymandering, and how on earth became Trump even a candidate, not speaking about that the charges against Hillary were dropped.

    Not sure whom to attribute those hacks, but isn't it actually a good thing, that this knowledge is now spread between the voters so they can make a more informed decision? Isn't it better to know what is going on than to life in fluffy unicorn land?

    All the governments are always saying: No need to fear, if you have nothing to hide. Well...

  • "U.S. military hackers have penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications networks and the Kremlin's command systems, making them vulnerable to attack by secret American cyber weapons should the U.S. deem it necessary, according to a senior intelligence official and top-secret documents reviewed by NBC News."

    Only if the Russians are dumb enough to connect their SCADA systems directly to the Internet and run them on Microsoft Windows.

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