Thread by @RVAwonk

Testifying before House Armed Services Cmte, U. of Cincinnati political science prof. Dr. Richard Harknett says Russian cyber operations "are not hacks or thefts or even espionage — we are facing comprehensive strategic campaigns to undermine our national sources of power."

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Dr. Harknett: "I don't know why we should afford first amendment rights to bots... If an issue is trending because of foreign manipulation, that's not free speech."
#CyberSecurity

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Heather Conley, Center for Strategic & International Studies, tells Senate Armed Services Cmte:

"Russia exploits the weaknesses it finds. They're exploiting weaknesses that already exist." Need to help Americans understand what is coming.

#CyberSecurity

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.@SenBlumenthal: "Russia committed an act of war, and they're going to do it again unless they pay a price for it, and that includes sanctions."

Notes that Senate passed sanctions by a 98-2 vote, but Trump admin failed to enforce them.

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Conley tells Senate Armed Services Committee: Russian operations are going to look "more and more American," and will likely exploit 1st Amendment issues as social media companies are tasked with cracking down on Russian ops.
#CyberSecurity

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Side note (by me): Those of us who watched the "Free Speech movement" get co-opted by violent extremists have already seen how easily the 1st amendment can be exploited — and how woefully underprepared media & society were when it happened.

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Here's an article I wrote last fall that provides a tiny glimpse into how easily the 1st amendment can be weaponized & exploited by bad actors.

--> How Russian & Alt-Right Twitter Accounts Worked Together to Skew the Narrative About Berkeley

arcdigital.media/how-russian-al…