The United States of America has yet again neglected to
build up deterrence in the consequence of Russia's interference in the 2016
election. And there is no surprise as to why it failed to do so. Which it did
in light of the fact that Russia proceeded to forcefully employ the most
noteworthy part of its 2016 toolbox: the utilization of social media as a
platform to disseminate propaganda intended to debilitate or in simpler words weaken their country.
Former CIA Director Michael Morell and former Chairman of
the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, said that Russia
has continued its cyber-attacks against the United States. Both of them serve
on the advisory council for the Alliance for Securing Democracy, say that the
U.S. has neglected to prevent Russia from utilizing social networking to "disseminate propaganda designed to weaken
their nation”.
"There is a perception among the media and the general
public that Russia ended its social-media operations following last year's
election and that we need worry only about future elections. But that
perception is wrong. Russia's information operations in the United States
continued after the election and they continue to this day," they wrote on
Tuesday for The Washington Post.
As reported by them, the Russian government is as yet
sending viable and effective tactics that focus on particular gatherings and
politicians, much as they did earlier by controlling social media in the race
to the 2016 election.
As per Rogers and Morell, Russian-influenced Twitter
accounts were leading members in November's #BoycottKuerig movement via social
media. The boycott started to dissent the coffee-maker organization pulling its
advertisements for Sean Hannity's Fox News show.
"This was a
Russian attack on a U.S. company and on our economy," Morell and
Rogers said.
Morell and Rogers warn that Russia's utilization of
web-based social networking as a "political weapon" that will
continue pushing ahead in the future, with more nations expected that would
stick to this same pattern, unless and until the U.S. intervenes.
"The sanctions
that the Obama administration and Congress put in place in the aftermath of the
2016 election are steps in the right direction, but they were not significant
enough to check Russian President Vladimir Putin," Morell and Rogers
suggest.
Additionally included saying that true deterrence requires
arrangements or such policies that keep adversaries from accomplishing their
targets all the while imposing noteworthy expenses on their regimes, out of
which they have done neither.