Russia interference Report

[mat]

The biggest take is government being lax.

Boris can blame it on May/Cameron and move on.

 

[mat]

Politicians have ALWAYS been influenced by personal interests. The problem comes when those personal interests have National security implications.

Russia are incredibly good at playing the long game. We discovered this in WWII and during the Cold War: We learned NOTHING.

I think it's more not learning. It's indivuals in power protecting their own interests over the needs of the nation. I'm sure social media journalism will find out who's heavily influenced by oligarchy.

 

[dave_blue12]

Sad to say there are plenty of people in this country, including posters on here, who are so desperate to be right about the way they voted both in the 2016 referendum and for the Tory Government that they are prepared to completely ignore the actions of a hostile state interfering in the future prospects and wellbeing of our country.

In my book this is treachery.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Russia come out of this under a bad light, for me.
Scottish Indy ref Fail
Brexit Pass
General election (s) Fail.
They really need to up their game.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

I think it's more not learning. It's indivuals in power protecting their own interests over the needs of the nation. I'm sure social media journalism will find out who's heavily influenced by oligarchy.

I think it's more than "not learning".
This is wilfully negligent.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

It is what is not there that stands out.The bit that references Aaron Banks is followed by some redactions and then some criticism.

Para 44 - The government did not want to know about it.
footnote 50 - Aaron Banks £8m followed by redactions
Para 45 I'm guessing that the open source is referring to co-ordinated social media and false claims spread by a network of bots. The lack of any investigation into this seems to be the theme.
Para 46 The government did not investigate as it did not want to uncover the answer!

(ii) Narrow coverage
44. The written evidence provided to us appeared to suggest that HMG had not seen or
sought evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes or any activity that
has had a material impact on an election, for example influencing results.
49,50 ***. ***.51

50 We note that Arron Banks became the biggest donor in British political history when he gave £8m to the
Leave.EU campaign. In October 2018, the Electoral Commission – which had been investigating the source
of this donation – referred the case to the National Crime Agency, which investigated it ***. In September
2019, the National Crime Agency announced that it had concluded the investigation, having found no evidence
that any criminal offences had been committed under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act
2000 or company law by any of the individuals or organisations referred to it by the Electoral Commission.
51 ***

45. This focus on *** indicates that open source material (for example, the studies of
attempts to influence the referendum using RT and Sputnik, or social media campaigns
referred to earlier) was not fully taken into account. Given that the Committee has
previously been informed that open source material is now fully represented in the
Government’s understanding of the threat picture, it was surprising to us that in this instance
it was not.

46. Whilst it may be true that some issues highlighted in open source did not require the
secret investigative capabilities of the intelligence and security Agencies or were at the
periphery of their remits, the Agencies nonetheless have capabilities which allow them to
‘stand on the shoulders’ of open source coverage: for example, GCHQ might attempt to
look behind the suspicious social media accounts which open source analysis has identified
to uncover their true operators (and even disrupt their use), or SIS might specifically task
an agent to provide information on the extent and nature of any Russian influence
campaigns.52 However, we have found *** which suggests that ***. ***.

And the conclusion below Aaron Banks is the 'Enabler' who must be 'tackled'.

The clearest requirement for immediate action is for new legislation: the Intelligence
Community must be given the tools it needs and be put in the best possible position
if it is to tackle this very capable adversary, and this means a new statutory
framework to tackle espionage, the illicit financial dealings of the Russian elite and
the ‘enablers’ who support this activity.

 

[mat]

Sad to say there are plenty of people in this country, including posters on here, who are so desperate to be right about the way they voted both in the 2016 referendum and for the Tory Government that they are prepared to completely ignore the actions of a hostile state interfering in the future prospects and wellbeing of our country.

In my book this is treachery.

To politicise it will stop people asking the questions.

I'll read the full report. I fully agree that any individuals of any political party should be charged with trenchery.

 

[mat]

If anything this will fuel the argument of removing the lords.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

It will be swept under the rug, nothing will happen