CLASS 10: A PROFESSOR AND THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

RUSSIA TARGETS THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN

Forget about collusion or coordination. This is a look at what Russia did and why it's a problem.

Photo by Egor Filin on Unsplash

Last class, we started to look at a few of the tentacles of Russian influence operations in the United States. Before we get into this week’s topic, about Russian approaches to the Trump campaign, I’d like to direct you to this story from Just Security, which outlines yet another effort that was going on at the same time. This one focused on far-left groups and local politics, but its aim was the same: to cause dissension and discord in order to destabilize the US.

These examples demonstrate just how much Russia was doing at once. Approaches to the Trump campaign were only one piece of a much larger operation, which is why it is so important to discuss this not as a political issue, but as a national security issue.

But of course, Active Measure are specifically designed to make it difficult to do that.

Additionally, I know some of you who are signed up for this course are more familiar with many of the legal findings involving some of these cases. I encourage you to leave comments to add context and details.

So with that, let’s jump in.

Infiltration of Trump campaign

There were too many contacts between Russia and Trump people for me to cover them all. Instead, I will concentrate on a few clear cut approaches that demonstrate what we have already learned about the recruitment cycle and influence operations. Also, I thought I could fit this all into two classes. I was wrong! It’s going to take three classes (and even then I won’t have covered everything; after all, the Senate Intelligence report into Russia’s actions is over a thousand pages long).