inserted dashes (—) to improve formatting of bulleted list
Why the FBI Relied on Crowdstrike Examination of DNC Server after Alleged Russian Hack
by anon
“The FBI never requested access to the DNC’s computer servers,” wrote DNC deputy communications director Eric Walker. According to an unnamed intelligence official, no U.S. intelligence agency ever did its own forensic analysis on the hacked servers. FBI and Homeland Security relied on analysis by third-party security firm CrowdStrike, which investigated the breach for the DNC. [1]
Even that narrative is questionable. “[Former] FBI Director James Comey and [former] Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson both testified to Congress about the DNC’s reluctance to cooperate in a case the Democrats nonetheless relentlessly hyped as tantamount to an act of war.” A week before Comey’s testimony, the DNC even blamed the FBI for having never requested access. Yet an unnamed senior FBI official contradicted the DNC the very next day, telling The Hill that “The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed… This left the FBI no choice but to rely upon a third party for information.” [2]
In hindsight, isn’t it obvious that the whole procedure was highly irregular, especially in light of the extreme sensitivity of the “Russian election interference” allegation? Who directed the FBI to disregard procedure and not insist on doing a proper forensic exam of the DNC server—especially if the alleged “Russian hacking” was going to serve as a pretext to derail Donald Trump’s legitimate presidency?
The hacking of the DNC server is what initiated the entire Trump/Russia hoax. How can we trust the DNC or Obama administration officials—contradicting each other’s statements—on such a significant matter? Let's review the events. [4]
—In testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, the DNC IT Director, Yared Tamene Wolde-Yohannes, stated that in September 2015, a [name-redacted] FBI agent first alerted him to potential nefarious activity on the DNC network. [6, p.7] However the DNC technology team could not detect the nefarious activity. That FBI agent contacted the DNC numerous times between then and December 2015 to report continued signs of suspicious activity. The agent said his information came from other operatives in the Intelligence Community. [6, p.12]
—The FBI eventually asked the DNC for 15 GB of metadata from the DNC servers, which was to be turned over on 4/29/16. [6, p.24] But on 4/28/16, the DNC’s information technology team discovered a cyberattack on their servers.
—On 5/1/16 the DNC, through their law firm Perkins-Coie, hired CrowdStrike, a private contractor, to examine the server. From that time onward, CrowdStrike took over all communications with the FBI on behalf of the DNC. [6, p.32]
—In response to questioning over Seth Rich, Tamene stated that the DNC found no unusual or unauthorized access by DNC personnel, but admitted that CrowdStrike was involved in the process of analysis [6, p.35] (Under contract to the DNC, did Crowdstrike in effect serve as a paid advocate to exonerate DNC personnel or advance a predetermined outcome?)
—Predictably, CrowdStrike concluded that the Russians were responsible.
—In mid-June, WikiLeaks announced they were in possession of emails damaging to Clinton. They did not say how they obtained the emails, but denied that Russia provided them.
—In a perplexing “coincidence”, Shawn Henry admitted that Crowdstrike had provided some “intelligence services to the FBI as part of a contract” in the past. [5, - p.74]. A search for CrowdStrike’s government contracts reveals a contract with the FBI from 7/8/2015 to 7/7/2016. [7] So while remediating the DNC network and advocating for the DNC in contacts with the FBI, CrowdStrike simultaneously had a contract with the FBI. The period when the FBI agent originally advised Director Tamene of ‘potential nefarious activity’ on the DNC network was concurrent with CrowdStrike providing intelligence to the FBI. Which unnamed Intelligence Community source was notifying the FBI agent of nefarious activity on the DNC servers—could it have been CrowdStrike itself? Shouldn't the [name-redacted] FBI Agent be called to testify?
—In a further “coincidence”, IT Director Tamene’s legal counsel for the House Intelligence Committee testimony was Marc Elias of Perkins-Coie—the same law firm that technically hired CrowdStrike to work for the DNC. (Doesn't Perkins-Coie's representation of the DNC and CrowdStrike appear to be a conflict of interest?) But back to the timeline…
—The DNC refused to allow the FBI or Homeland Security anywhere near their server. In violation of every investigative norm, the FBI accepted CrowdStrike’s unverified redacted report, and passed it on to Mueller’s special counsel. In fact, the FBI never even saw the full report, but used it as a primary source to blame Russia anyway! [3]
—The New York Times wrote an article supporting the DNC version of the story. Then Comey’s FBI leaked information to bolster this narrative, and the Times ran a second story. —The DNC version of events got repeated so frequently and passionately that it became accepted as true.
In this way, through the knowing collusion of many individuals, criticism regarding the content of Hillary's emails was deflected, and the seeds were sown for a false narrative that Russians wanted to bolster Trump’s election changes.
In Congressional testimony, CrowdStrike’s CEO Shaun Henry could not state unequivocally that Russians hacked the DNC server or exfiltrated data from it. “There are times when we can see data exfiltrated, and we can say conclusively. But in this case it appears it was set up to be exfiltrated, but we just don’t have the evidence that says it actually left.” [5] Yet upon this thinnest of predicates was based a circa-$32-million special counsel that failed to find wrongdoing by the President, an impeachment proceeding that concluded no wrongdoing by the President, and a relentless media narrative that for 3.5 years has attempted to unseat a duly-elected President.
Bottom line: While we do know that the 2016 Clinton Campaign and DNC paid for the discredited Steele Dossier, we still don’t know what data the DNC server held that the DNC hoped to hide from the FBI—data which remains hidden to this day. We don’t know exactly what acts of wrongdoing the Obama administration hoped to conceal from their employers, the American people. However, we do know that everyone in Mr. Obama’s cabinet used private Gmail addresses for surreptitious email communication, to knowingly evade federal records retention laws. We do know that the Steele dossier (which the FBI certified to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) as reliable, and upon which the Court relied in granting warrants that legitimized spying on candidate and President Donald Trump) contained nothing more than rumors and innuendo, and had been discredited by the FBI itself. After the FBI’s stunning malfeasance was revealed, FISC Chief Judge Boasberg censured the FBI, suggesting that prior cases might be overturned due to the FBI's pattern of lacking candor. We do know that when the Crossfire Razor investigation regarding Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was about to be closed for lack of evidence, the FBI’s Peter Strzok overrode agency decisions and insisted it remain open so they could frame Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor, Flynn.
Four years later, unanswered questions still abound. We must continue pressing for answers to unravel the bizarre and inexplicable behavior of the DNC, the FBI, and the Obama administration.
Sources
[1] thehill.com/policy/national-security/312767-fbi-never-examined-hacked-dnc-servers-report (01/04/17)
[2] amgreatness.com/2020/02/14/impeachment-was-cover-for-crowdstrike-and-democrats-got-what-they-wanted/ (2/14/20)
[3] lidblog.com/crowdstrike-dnc/ (6/16/19)
[4] redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2020/05/08/huge-crowdstrike-ceo-has-no-direct-evidence-russia-stoleexfiltrated-dnc-emails/ (5/8/20)
[5] Testimony of Shaun Henry (CrowdStrike CEO) to House Intelligence Committee (12/5/17), intelligence.house.gov/UploadedFiles/SH21.pdf
[6] Testimony of Yared Tamene Wolde-Yohannes (DNC IT Director) to House Intelligence Committee (08/30/17), dni.gov/files/HPSCI_Transcripts/Yareda_Tamene-MTR_Redacted.pdf
[7] CrowdStrike contract with the FBI, usaspending.gov/#/award/CONT_AWD_DJF151200P0007649_1549_-NONE-_-NONE-