It is public knowledge that the DNC officially engaged CrowdStrike (through Perkins Coie) on 5/1/2016 after a cyberattack was identified by the DNC IT team on 4/28/2016.
Here is what is not commonly known:
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, the DNC IT Director, Yared Tamene Wolde-Yohannes stated that an FBI Agent first contacted him in Sept 2015 asking him to check for possible nefarious activity on the DNC network. [1 - p.7]
Even though the DNC IT team was unable to detect any nefarious activity, the redacted FBI Agent called/texted numerous times between Sept-Dec 2015 stating they continued to see signs of nefarious activity.
When Tamene asked for more detail, the FBI Agent divulged that he was speaking with and getting information from other operatives in the Intelligence Community. [1 - p.12]
The FBI eventually asked the DNC for 15 gigs of metadata from the DNC servers. The 4/28/16 cyberattack was on the day before the IT team was to give that data over to the FBI. [1 - p.24]
CrowdStrike took over all communications with the FBI after they were hired by the DNC on 5/1/16. [1 - p.32]
In response to questioning over Seth Rich, Tamene stated that they found no unusual or unauthorized access by DNC personnel, but admitted that CrowdStrike was involved in the process of analysis [1 - p.35]
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Shawn Henry, President of CrowdStrike Services, stated that analysis & remediation of the DNC network was completed on 6/13/16 at which time he contacted the Assistant Director of the FBI. [2 - p.35]
Henry admitted that his company provided ‘’’intelligence services to the FBI as part of a contract’’’ in the past. [2 - p.74]
A search for CrowdStrike’s government contracts reveals a contract with the FBI from 7/8/2015 - 7/7/2016. [3]
‘’’In other words, CrowdStrike was under contract with the FBI at the very same time that they were hired by the DNC & completed their remediation of the DNC network and also at the time the FBI Agent originally contracted DNC’s IT Director to advise him of ‘potential nefarious activity’ on the DNC network. By Henry’s own admission, CrowdStrike was providing the FBI with intelligence as part of that contract.’’'
Unanswered questions:
Was CrowdStrike one of the unnamed IC operators that was providing intelligence to the FBI agent who was in touch with the DNC IT Director?
Why hasn’t that redacted FBI Agent been called for testimony?
It should also be noted that Tamene’s counsel for the HPSCI testimony was Marc Elias of Perkins-Coie, the same law firm that technically hired CrowdStrike to work for the DNC.
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[1] HPSCI testimony of YARED TAMENE WOLDE-YOHANNES, IT director for the DNC, 08/30/17.
https://www.dni.gov/files/HPSCI_Transcripts/Yareda_Tamene-MTR_Redacted.pdf
[2] HPSCI testimony of SHAWN HENRY, President of CrowdStrike Services, 12/5/17.
https://www.dni.gov/files/HPSCI_Transcripts/2020-05-04-Shawn_Henry-MTR_Redacted.pdf
[3] CrowdStrike contract with the FBI
https://www.usaspending.gov/#/award/CONT_AWD_DJF151200P0007649_1549_-NONE-_-NONE-