U.S. officials only learned of Russian election meddling because they heard someone bragging about it
U.S. officials first caught wind of the full extent of Russia's plot to meddle in the presidential election back in May 2016, when spies intercepted a Russian military officer boasting about his intended exploits, Time's Massimo Calabresi reported in the magazine's latest cover story:
As obvious as the conversation's implications may be in retrospect, Time reported that U.S. officials at the time "didn't know what to make of it." "We didn't really understand the context of it until much later," a senior intelligence official said.
Now, of course, the U.S. knows this GRU officer was foreshadowing Russia's plans to infiltrate American opinion through a wide-reaching social media campaign intended to spread disinformation. U.S. officials have learned that 2016 could just be the beginning: The Russians are now apparently "running a more sophisticated hack on Twitter" that allows hackers to "take control of the victim's phone or computer — and Twitter account."
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