Meet The Cabal That Are Framing Domestic American Activism As “Russian Influence” and “Fake News”

Disobedient Media ^ | January 29, 2018 | Adam Carter

[vannrox]

Can we trust the judgement of think-tanks who have labeled Twitter users as part of a ‘Russian influence campaign’ as sound when those same entities provide little evidence, and their high-level members include former Clinton supporters?

At the beginning of 2017, an initiative was launched by a non-partisan think-tank called the German Marshall Fund US (GMFUS) under the name “The Alliance For Securing Democracy” (ASD).

During the Summer, ASD started working on a project they called the “Hamilton 68 Dashboard“, an effort that was presented to the public as a means of monitoring Russian disinformation efforts on Twitter, apparently boosted by research covering a three year period.

Over recent months, the press has reported on what the dashboard identifies as Twitter activity from those ASD have classified as Russian or, at least, involved in Russian influence operations.

Although some in the mainstream press have divulged the association between ASD and GMFUS, hardly anyone has disclosed the affiliations between those running ASD and special interests, or similar connections with the advisory board of GMFUS.

Methodology & Lack of Disinformation Classification

Obviously, with a contentious project such as the “Hamilton 68 Dasboard”, some people will immediately question the results and the first thing the doubters are likely to latch onto will be the methodology (or lack thereof). Reassuringly, ASD do provide details of the methodology and it does, on the surface, seem fair and reasonable.

However, while analytical methods for identifying associations and social media relationships are outlined, if you read it through to the end you may notice one thing missing. The methodology for actually classifying tweets as disinformation or part of a Russian influence campaign isn’t disclosed and neither are samples of what had been declared disinformation.

This is, of course, fundamental in assessing the veracity of the effort.

How can we be sure that those ASD deems to be “Russian Influence” aren’t just individuals who have expressed opinions or stated factual information that is politically inconvenient for ASD’s staff and advisory council (and others connected to GMFUS)?

The answer is that we can’t know for sure and are expected to trust their judgment. Unfortunately for them, events over the past week suggest that this is trust they don’t deserve.

Branding #ReleaseTheMemo As “Russian Influence” Backfires

On January 18, 2018, the US House Intelligence Committee held a vote and agreed to allow house members to view a classified memo relating to alleged abuse of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) laws.

Later that day, Republican Rep. Steve King stated via Twitter that he had read the memo and that it was “worse than watergate”, using the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo in his tweet.

I have read the memo. The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate. It was #neverTrump & #alwaysHillary. #releasethememo

— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) January 19, 2018

This was followed by Republican Congressman Mark Meadows posting a video of a statement issued on the house floor which he then shared on Twitter using the same hashtag:

I viewed the classified report from House Intel relating to the FBI, FISA abuses, the infamous Russian dossier, and so-called “Russian collusion.” What I saw is absolutely shocking.

This report needs to be released–now. Americans deserve the truth. #ReleaseTheMemo pic.twitter.com/oP2UNujKQL

— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 19, 2018

WikiLeaks even tweeted about it:

#ReleaseTheMemo: Do you know someone who has access to the FISA abuse memo? Send them here: https://t.co/cLRcuIiQXz

WikiLeaks will match reward funds up to $1m sent to this unique Bitcoin address: 3Q2KXS8WYT6dvr91bM2RjvBHqMyx9CbPMN

or marked ‘memo2018’: https://t.co/lmsmphuH2N pic.twitter.com/j1YEkXqi2S

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 19, 2018

It didn’t take long before #ReleaseTheMemo was trending.

Glenn Greenwald, Sean Hannity and others also tweeted about the topic using the same hashtag on the following day. The total number of Tweets on that day grew to over 184,000 tweets.

Google’s data from search queries shows the peak in interest was consistent with what was being seen on Twitter.

However, there was a problem. The sleuths at ASD monitored unprecedented levels of “Russian Influence” in relation to the hashtag and were cited within 24-48 hours by entities such as the Associated Press in articles including this one published at Snopes.

The information provided by ASD was then used by Sen. Diane Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff in a co-signed letter sent to both Twitter and Facebook, as ABC reported:

NEW: Sen. Feinstein, Rep. Schiff urge Facebook and Twitter to investigate involvement of Russian bots in pushing “Release the Memo” campaign: “If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors.” pic.twitter.com/SkAci5NefK

— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018

Of course, with ASD not disclosing it’s targets or even what they classify as disinformation, they could be tracking Americans that share factual information but are branded as “Russian Influence” because they’ve cited/retweeted/etc something sourced to RT, Sputnik, etc. at some point in the past or because they’ve posted factual but politically inconvenient information that ASD choose to classify as disinformation regardless.

So, was there really an unprecedented surge of Russian influence?

Well, no, it doesn’t seem so. Twitter is currently attributing the activity to Americans.

Amusingly, the day before ABC News had even reported on Feinstein and Schiff’s efforts, Julian Assange posted a tweet illustrating why ASD’s claims of tracking Russian influence are doubtful:

#MondayMotivation is a Russian plot to destroy American democracy according to the ever ridiculous ‘Hamiliton 68’. But don’t worry, Senator Feinstein and Congressman Schiff will surely call for a Congressional investigation. https://t.co/Q1iCzGKx4W pic.twitter.com/G0mP3oPRAY

— Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) January 23, 2018

Since then, “Hamilton 68” has faced increasing criticism with people pointing out that those working for and advising ASD may be the reason for it’s questionable results.

Details of the staff, advisors, etc are below.

The Alliance For Securing Democracy Staff

	Laura Rosenberger GMFUS senior fellow & Director of Alliance For Securing Democracy Former Foreign Policy Advisor – Hillary For America Previously served in State Dept and National Security Council. Term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Foreign Policy contributor.
	Jamie Fly GMFUS senior fellow and Future of Geopolitics and Asia programs director Foreign and National Security Affairs counselor to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 2013–17 Executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) 2009-2013 National Security Council (2008–09) and Office of the Secretary of Defense (2005–08)
	David Salvo Resident fellow at Alliance for Securing Democracy Previously worked as Foreign Service Officer at the State Department worked on U.S. policies toward NATO and the OSCE
	Bret Schafer ASD’s coordinator for communication, social media, and digital content Former editor-in-chief of Public Diplomacy Magazine
	Brittany Beaulieu Alliance for Securing Democracy program officer Served on Europe, Eurasia & Central Asia team on Sen. Foreign Relations Committee Worked on Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014
	Clint Watts Non-resident fellow – Alliance for Securing Democracy Former FBI (JTTF), Consulted for: CTD NSB Senior fellow Center for Cyber & Homeland Security, George Washington University Foreign Policy Research Institute fellow Stated that Trump used active Russian measures against his opponents during the election.
	J.M. Berger Fellow with the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism co-author of ISIS: The State of Terror (with Jessica Stern) and author of Jihad Joe develops analytical techniques to study political and extremist uses of social media. Regular contributor to Foreign Policy and founder of Intelwire.com

 

The Alliance For Securing Democracy Advisors

	Michael Chertoff U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009 Chertoff Group co-founder (risk-management and security consulting) Senior of counsel at the Washington, DC law firm Covington & Burling Chairman of BAE Systems 2012-2015. Co-Author of the PATRIOT Act. Endorsed Hillary Clinton.
	Michael McFaul special asst to president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House from 2009 to 2012, then U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2012–14. Senior fellow at Freeman Spogli Institute for Int. Studies. Peter and Helen Bing senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. NBC analyst, WAPO columnist.
	Bill Kristol Weekly standard editor, Facebook fake-news arbiter Served on the board of the Project for the New American Century (1997–2005) and the Foreign Policy Initiative (2009–17) Chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle (GWB administration) Endorsed Hillary Clinton
	Michael Morrell Former acting CIA director 2011, 2012-13 and as deputy director & director for Intelligence. Beacon Global Strategies as a senior counselor since November 2013 Played a central role in the United States’ fight against terrorism and was one of the leaders involved in the location & capture of Osama Bin Laden Wrote an op-ed in the NYT endorsing Hillary Clinton Proposed giving weapons to Ukraine in response to alleged hacking of US election.
	David Kramer Former senior director Human Rights & Democracy, McCain Institute for International Leadership Freedom House – former president. Served 8 years in U.S. Department of State under GWB. Advisory council for GWB Presidential Center’s Human Freedom Project. On board of directors at Halifax International Security Forum. Worked at CSIS in 90s. Was reportedly directed to meet with Steele in London by McCain Was a senior fellow at the Project for a New American Century International Advisory Council at the Center for European Policy Analysis In addition, Kramer is a member of the Ukraine Today media organization’s International Supervisory Council. In 2016 Kramer argued that the Minsk II peace agreement should be scrapped and western sanctions on Russia maintained. Has spoken out against Obama and Clinton in the past.
	Toomas Ilves Elected president of the Republic of Estonia in 2006 and in 2011 Worked on ICT for the UN Former Vice president of European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Former Foreign affairs minister & ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to US and Canada Is world economic forum co-chair. fellow at the Hoover Institution
	James Stavridis US Navy (ret.) commander of European Command and as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe from 2009 to 2013. Chairman of US Naval Institute Board of Directors. U.S. Southern Command in Miami 2006–09 and Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, in Arabian Gulf for Op. Iraqi Freedom and Op Enduring Freedom from 2002–04. Former NATO Commander
	Mike Rogers Former Congressman, officer in the Army, and FBI special agent. Former chair of U.S. House Intelligence Committee as leader on cybersecurity and national security policy, oversaw the intelligence agencies’ $70 billion budget. CNN national security commentator, hosts and produces CNN’s “Declassified.” Chief Security Adviser to AT&T, on board of IronNet Cybersecurity and MITRE Corporation, advises Next Century Corp. and Trident Capital. Distinguished Fellow and Trustee at Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, Senior Fellow at Belfer Center, Harvard. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Energy & Commerce. Introduced CISPA.
	Nicole Wong Former U.S. chief tech officer for Obama. Previously Google’s vice president and deputy general counsel, and Twitter’s legal director for products. Chairs board of Friends of Global Voices. On boards of WITNESS, the Mozilla Foundation, advisor to the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Business School Digital Initiative, the DNC Cybersecurity advisory board, Refactor Capital, and Albright Stonebridge Group. Associate at Perkins Coie LLP in 1997 and was named a partner in 2000. Wong represented media clients including the Los Angeles Times, The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft, and Amazon.com before joining Google.
	Kori Schake Former White House National Security Council, Department of Defense for the Office of the Secretary and Joint Chiefs of Staff, State Department for the Policy Planning Staff. In 2008, Kori was senior policy advisor on the McCain–Palin campaign. Research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Co-authored “Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military” with Jim Mattis. Teaches at Stanford, contributing editor covering national security and international affairs at The Atlantic, columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, contributor to War on the Rocks. Contributed to conceptualizing and budgeting for continued transformation of defense practices, the most significant realignment of U.S. military forces and bases around the world since 1950, creating NATO’s Allied Command Transformation and the NATO Response Force, and recruiting and retaining coalition partners for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq
	Julianne Smith Deputy national security advisor to Joe Biden (2012 to 2013), acting national security advisor to Biden in 2013, principal director for European and NATO policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. Senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. Contributor to Foreign Policy.
	Jake Sullivan Obama admin national security advisor to Joe Biden, director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State, deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He was the senior policy advisor on Secretary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. He is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Martin R. Flug visiting lecturer in law at Yale Law School. – Was spoken of as a front-runner for the position of U.S. National Security Advisor under a Hillary Clinton administration prior to her electoral defeat.

There are quite a few Democratic party figures, people that worked in the state department, people that endorsed Clinton, Foreign Policy publication contributors, people that have worked on the National Security Committee and those with ties to the US intelligence community and NATO.

I can’t speak for others, but personally, when it comes to considering all the affiliations, associations, influences and endorsements – I struggle to see how such a collective can be expected to carry out the role of an impartial arbiter on the topic of disinformation.

While they remain opaque on what they’ve classify as “Russian influence” and “disinformation”, there’s little reason to assume the results of their efforts will inherently be credible.

Twitter contradicting their assertions obviously does their credibility no favors either.

For more information about ASD’s advisors/staff, check out Glenn Greenwald’s Intercept article on the topic.

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Global Chess, Media & Tech, Social Media Adam Carter, German Marshall Fund, Release The Memo, Russian Collusion, Russian Hacking, Russian influence, The Alliance For Securing Democracy

[Darksheare]

Kristol, who tweeted about a train wreck before it happened.

[Robert DeLong]

Billy Kristol, definitely not the real deal if he is involved.

[timestax]

[piasa]

info bump... noticed Albright Stonebridge in there, etc...

[Candor7]

I really hate to say it, but those effing Russians are going to slap the piss out if the Dems once again in November!

Its a Russian twofer./S

[timestax]

[Olog-hai]

Alliance For Securing Democracy …

Oh; the D word. A few things about that.

“The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy.”

— Elbridge Gerry, 05/31/1787

“[T]he first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the level of ruling class to win the battle of democracy.”

— Communist Manifesto (1848), chapter 2

“What will be the course of this revolution? Above all, it will establish a democratic constitution,, and through this, the direct or indirect dominance of the proletariat. […] Democracy would be wholly valueless to the proletariat if it were not immediately used as a means for putting through measures directed against private property and ensuring the livelihood of the proletariat.”

— The Principles of Communism, 1847

“The thesis of the state socialist is that no line can be drawn between private and public affairs which the state may not cross at will; that omnipotence of legislation is the first postulate of all just political theory. […] [I]t is very clear that in fundamental theory, socialism and democracy are almost, if not quite, one and the same. They both rest at bottom upon the absolute right of the community to determine its own destiny and that of its members. Men as communities are supreme over men as individuals.”

— Woodrow Wilson, Socialism and Democracy, 1887

There is a reason why the USA was set up as a republic and not a democracy. This list of quotes ought to help those who are yet ignorant of why this was so to figure out just why, and to work to drive “democracy” out of the US public sphere.

[MAGAthon]

very interesting.

here’s another, with the writer embodying quite a bit of the whole cabal above.

19 Feb: Wired: A Facebook Executive Apologizes To His Company — And To Robert Mueller
by Nicholas Thompson
By the time Facebook executives went to sleep that evening, they had heard about the tweets, but they weren’t particularly worried. One of Facebook’s more senior executives, a VP named Andrew Bosworth, even gave the thread a little boost, retweeting it and noting “Important thread here.”...

And then, the message caught the attention of America’s Tweeter in Chief. And so on Saturday, right about when Facebook’s executives would have been sitting down for lunch, @realdonaldtrump decided that he wanted to introduce his 48 million followers to Rob Goldman…

On Monday, I spoke with a Facebook executive familiar with the company’s cooperation with Mueller and asked which of the three hypotheses was closest to the truth, based on all the data Facebook has. “I don’t think anyone at Facebook can say definitely one way or another,” they answered. “We are a tech company. Why would have the answer? I wouldn’t trust us if we said we did.”

Later that day, Rob Goldman seemed to come to the same understanding, and posted internally at Facebook a message that read as follows: “I wanted to apologize for having tweeted my own view about Russian interference without having it reviewed by anyone internally. The tweets were my own personal view and not Facebook’s. I conveyed my view poorly. The Special Counsel has far more information about what happened [than] I do—so seeming to contradict his statements was a serious mistake on my part ETC ETC ETC
https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-executive-rob-goldman-apologizes-to-company-and-robert-mueller

the writer:

Nicholas Thompson (editor Wired)
Before (Wired), Thompson was a journalist at The New Yorker magazine, where he was the editor of newyorker.com.[2] Previously, he was a senior editor at the magazine
He is also a contributor for CBS News and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations…Thompson is the author of The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War…The Washington Post called it “Brilliant.”…

He is also one of three founders of The Atavist, a digital publishing company, whose investors include Eric Schmidt (Google), Andreessen-Horowitz, and Barry Diller…

He is a former fellow at the New America Foundation and a former contributing editor at CNN International. He has written about politics, technology, and the law for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, The New York Observer, and many other publications. In addition to his regular work with Bloomberg TV, he was also a frequent guest on CNN’s American Morning and NBC’s Today Show. He has also appeared as a commentator on Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC’s Live with Regis and Kelly and World News Tonight, CBS’s Early Show, and National Public Radio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Thompson_(editor)

[Nifster]

Bunch of Never Trumpers and commies

[a little elbow grease]

From the article:

"So, was there really an unprecedented surge of Russian influence?"

"Well, no, it doesn’t seem so. Twitter is currently attributing the activity to Americans."

_____________

All this Russia crap is pushed by those sanctimonious,lying bags of slime whose pictures are included in the article.

I pray for the truth to eventually come out beginning with the I.G. report and other revelations.

[SnuffaBolshevik]

[csvset]

Enemies of the American people. As a group they should get the rope.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[ImNotLying]

Who will be the new poster child for these people when Hillary kicks the bucket?

[FreedomPoster]

This is an interesting attempt at setting up a supposedly neutral institution to judge news and meme sources in an attempt to wrest control of inconvenient narratives back to Deep State norms.

The brief resumes of the principals tell the story.

[Libloather]

*ping*

[NativeSon]

I’d like to take a pair of pliers & a blowtorch to some of those scumbags.

[Liz]

Michael Goodwin's op-ed in the NY Post said it best:

"Hillary (a) paid for, and, (b) created allegations against Trump.
She then (c) gave them to L/E, (d) then tipped friendly media to the investigation."

"And it is almost certain FBI agents supporting Clinton were among the anonymous sources......."

"......the Clinton connections are so fundamental that there probably would not have been an FBI investigation without her involvement."

" Hillary played the dirtiest trick in presidential history and is revealed as relentlessly ruthless in her quest to be president."

" The only thing that went wrong (in her eyes) is that she lost the election."

[Liz]

THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING STORIES ARE PILING UP—but journos are asleep at the switch.

(1) Classified State Dept intel found on Clinton Foundation server...sold for honoraria, big-buck foundation donations, business deals?

(2) COLLUSION Bill connives foundation donations through Hillary’s State Dept action OR inaction.

(3 Clintons’ multiple business interests using “do-goodism” as a ruse-—gold mining, uranium mines, oil pipelines, banking, arms deals, pharmaceuticals, telecom, etc, etc, etc.

(4) Foundation laundry machines: Eaglevale Hedge Fund run by Chelsea’s husband, Goldman Sachs principles.

(5) Teneo laundry and the big bucks—employed Bill, Huma Abedin,

(6) Obama foundations’ cut of Clinton deals (CLUE: Clinton Foundation donates to Obama Foundation “for the children”)

(7) State Dept foreign aid tax dollars funneled back as foundation donations (see Cameroon Baptist Church’s $10 million donation)

(8) $6 billion found missing from Hillary’s State Dept.

(9) Hillary/Haiti tax billions they never got; brother gets gold-mining license.

(10) Clintons’ multiple hidden buck-raking entities (ever hear of The Clinton America Foundation?).

(11) Hillary hand-picks recipients of State Dept awards in exchange for foundation donations.

(12) Bill goes to Kazkhstan; Hillary approves Russian takeover of US uranium mines

(13) Clinton/Giustra Canada foundation hides donors.

(14) Clinton’s Swedish entity hides donors.

(15) Dead broke Clintons got-rich-quick on tolerance and compassion.

(16) MAIL FRAUD-—foundation raising money for one cause, then went to Bill’s “pass-through” account for another use.

(17) Rahm Emanuel was Bill Clinton’s senior White House aide, AND, a Goldman Sachs lobbyist...at the same time.

(18) Rham Emanuel was Obama’s COS and ran the US Treasury—both at the same time.

(19) Hillary’s State Dept nixed Nigeria’s Boko Haram on a terrorist list-—Clinton Foundation big-buck donor, Gilbert Chagoury heads sprawling Nigerian company.

(20) Lukas Lundin heads Canadian-based Lundin Mining, w/ big-buck interests in the Congo’s mining and oil reserves; gives Clintons $100 million donation.

(21) Chelsea lied-—said the Foundation received “high marks” from a watchdog group (which she knew to be false).

(22) Bill, Chelsea and Hillary Clinton Foundation underwritten by $16,000,000 grant paid for by US taxpayers.

(23) Board members were not advised of Foundation expenditures (fiduciaries required by law to oversee distribution of donations).

(24) In the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile case, L/E found Clinton listed w/ 21 phone nos and email addresses-—(signs of money laundering and tax fraud).