Thread about the ongoing investigation into the 2016 counterintelligence investigation brought against @realDonaldTrump. Assumptions: Russia attacked our elections. Russia has been behind @Wikileaks for years. Many agreed w/ @MittRomney in 2012 debate when he warned re Russia.1
There are few political scientists w/ broad spectrum respect as wide and deep as @GrahamTAllison. His most recent book includes the following warning: “An array of dangerous accelerants in cyberspace might inadvertently bring the United States and China into conflict. 2
“First, a denial and deception campaign could sufficiently convince investigators that China was not involved in an offensive attack, leading them to hold a third party accountable instead. 3
“Such a campaign might employ false personas on social media, co-opted media organizations, or false flag indicters left behind in malware to distract U.S. investigators from getting to ‘Ground Truth.’ If such a campaign were effective, it would make the fog of war much denser. 4
That @GrahamTAllison is urging caution and thorough investigation re: cyber attacks doesn’t diminish my conviction, bolstered by SC Mueller’s report and the IC community, that it was Russia that hacked the DNC. But it does remind me that Russia could have exploited aftermath. 5
And that the truth of the Russia hack/attack says nothing about the legitimacy of the counterintelligence investigation launched against @realDonaldTrump in 2016. Allison’s warning should bring about a great eagerness for thoroughness in the #AGBarr and US Atty Durham probe. 6
This probe, which must include DOJ IG Horowitz’s findings abiut FISA use and possible abuse, has many people nervous. It isn’t an attack on conclusion that Russia was behind the DNC hack. It is a probe into whether others used that attack for illegitimate purposes or tactics. 7
The #AGBarr and US Atty Durham probe, and IG Horowitz report, could well exonerate everyone, including @Comey. Those who did nothing wrong have nothing to fear, just charges of collusion w/Russia by @realDonaldTrump were in the end killed by the SC. 8
Indeed while it was long and tortuous, the exoneration that came from such an imbalanced and apparently biased SC prosecutorial team put @realDonaldTrump in a much stronger position re his political foes today. They have been obliged to abandon Mueller Report-based impeachment. 9
If #AGBarr and US Atty Durham find no abuse of process by senior FBI/IC/White House personnel much less criminal wrongdoing, it will be the end of the suspicion about those who peddled #SteeleDossier and who pushed FISA surveillance of American citizens. 10
What @GrahamTAllison’s warning ought to do, however, is encourage everyone to keep open minds about what might have happened by 2016, including the possibility that the Russian’s attack wasn’t the only wrongdoing. 11
Finally, I’m reading “Destined for War” by @GrahamTAllison at urging of Admiral @stavridisj (USN, Ret.) Along with Dr. Kissinger’s “On China,” this is a must read book. Don’t delay. It’s audio version, like the audio version of Dr. K’s book, is superb. amazon.com/Destined-War-A… 12
