WASHINGTON – Amidst mounting scrutiny of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held its first hearing of the year to discuss Russia’s tactics for undermining democracy around the world. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the subcommittee, questioned expert witnesses, including Heather Conley, author of “The Kremlin Playbook,” on Russia’s tactics to hack, spy, and lie their way to global dominance. Durbin pressed the witnesses on how the United States and other Western democracies could safeguard against cyber acts of war like the one experienced in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
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“Russia has been refining its tactics of cyber warfare against democracies for more than a decade – launching denial of service internet attacks, hacking into computer systems, publishing hacked documents, and spreading fake news stories, all with the aim of disrupting democratic institutions and supporting those who are sympathetic to Russian interests. And now, according to our intelligence community, Russia has brought this type of election warfare here, to America,” Durbin said after the hearing.“To fully understand what happened, and prevent it from happening again, we need a thorough, transparent investigation.”
