Stand Down. Stand By.
'Stand down': How the Obama team blew the response to Russian meddling
Michael Isikoff and David Corn | March 9, 2018
https://www.yahoo.com/news/stand-obama-team-blew-response-russian-meddling-100024634.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnlhaG9vLmNvbS9vYmFtYS1jeWJlci1jaGllZi1jb25maXJtcy1zdGFuZC1vcmRlci1ydXNzaWFuLWN5YmVyYXR0YWNrcy1zdW1tZXItMjAxNi0yMDQ5MzU3NTguaHRtbA&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE4tWNPGBD8dmQmOaEtyO3tqg7nEomFTKU7zzA78F8DPWe33pN-RHCBKvBXWbpxOiDEvy3V2GfGEQ_8SW-kG9fSLw3izh9rO0gHAzVQ1Z3M3AJnda9WshMm-OPr_abihPm3_Oa_oFGiOrRiMfwyIwyS3TNAPTClAcNPPA5GpQVsZ
"First, Brennan raised the problem of Russia’s harassment of U.S. diplomats — an especially pressing matter at Langley after an undercover CIA officer had been beaten outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow two months earlier. The continuing mistreatment of U.S. diplomats, Brennan told Bortnikov, was “irresponsible, reckless, intolerable and needed to stop.” And, he pointedly noted, it was Bortnikov’s own FSB “that has been most responsible for this outrageous behavior.”
Then Brennan turned to an even more sensitive issue: Russia’s interference in the American election. Brennan was now aware that at least a year earlier Russian hackers had begun their cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee. We know you’re doing this, Brennan said to the Russian. He pointed out that Americans would be enraged to find out Moscow was seeking to subvert the election — and that such an operation could backfire. Brennan warned Bortnikov that if Russia continued this information warfare, there would be a price to pay. He did not specify the consequences.
Bortnikov, as Brennan expected, denied Russia was doing anything to influence the election. This was, he groused, Washington yet again scapegoating Moscow. Brennan repeated his warning. Once more Bortnikov claimed there was no Russian meddling. But, he added, he would inform Russian President Vladimir Putin of Brennan’s comments.
This was the first of several warnings that the Obama administration would send to Moscow. But the question of how forcefully to respond would soon divide the White House staff, pitting the National Security Council’s top analysts for Russia and cyber issues against senior policymakers within the administration. It was a debate that would culminate that summer with a dramatic directive from Obama’s national security adviser to the NSC staffers developing aggressive proposals to strike back against the Russians: “Stand down.”"