Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security

Description

The official U.S. government report on Russian interference in democracy around the world! Most Americans were surprised to learn of Russian efforts to manipulate the results of the 2016 presidential election, and have become increasingly concerned about the vulnerabilities of our democracy. Here for the first time in an official U.S. government report is the fascinating and detailed account of how ex-KGB agent Vladimir Putin has used computer hackers, official state spy agencies, and even Russian organized crime thugs over the past thirty years to achieve his policy agenda?not only for Russian political domination, but also for his own enrichment and the enrichment of the oligarchs who control almost all aspects of the Russian economy. This complete report includes chapters on: Putin's Rise and Motivations Manipulation and Repression Inside Russia Old Active Measures and Modern Malign Influence Operations Weaponization of Civil Society, Ideology, Culture, Crime, and Energy Kremlin Interference in Semi-Consolidated Democracies and Transitional Governments Kremlin Interference in Consolidated Democracies Multilateral and U.S. efforts to Counter the Kremlin's Asymmetric Arsenal In Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe, we learn about Vladimir Putin's rise to power through the KGB to mayor of St. Petersburg and eventually as head of the Russian state. We discover the history of how Putin used classic Cold War KGB tactics by weaponizing civil society, culture, ideology, and Russia's criminal element against the nascent Russian democracy by cultivating and using ties to NGOs, thinktanks, extremist political groups, the Russian orthodox church, industrial and energy policy, and the Russian Mafia. We also see how the Kremlin then exported this political extortion, intimidation, and monetary corruption first to its Eastern European neighbors, then their western partners in the European Union, and how it has now landed on America's shores. Just as certain people in the intelligence community became increasingly alarmed at the growing strength and sophistication of Al-Qaeda in the late 1990s, the senators and staffers of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations are giving the nation fair warning of a 9/11-level assault on the United States, this time by Russia's spy agencies. Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe reveals not only the history of Russia's devastating tactics, but how to recognize and counter them.

Christopher Sampson is an expert in multimedia and terrorist use of cyberspace, and is coauthor of Hacking ISIS: How to Destroy the Cyber Jihad. He maintains the Terrorpedia database of the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics, and Radical Ideologies (TAPSTRI) along with spearheading that group's Terror Counter-Ideology Disrupt and Eliminate project. Sampson has been featured on the BBC as well as numerous radio broadcasts and newspapers.

"An impressive piece of work. In more than 200 pages, it lays out Putin's tactics over nearly two decades - and includes a host of specific practical recommendations for a U.S. response." -Foreign Policy "The report, which chronicles Russian disinformation efforts in 19 countries, calls on Donald Trump to assert leadership on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, saying: 'Never before in American history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly ignored by a US president.'" -The Guardian "Provides valuable insight into the current Washington thinking on Russian interference and how to counteract it . . . Visibly, as well as covertly, Russia is, without doubt, trying to project influence through a multitude of channels, and that influence is often essentially anti-Western." -Bloomberg "Warns of deepening Russian interference throughout Europe and concludes that even as some Western democracies have responded with aggressive counter-measures, President Trump has offered no strategic plan to bolster their efforts or safeguard the U.S. from again falling victim to the Kremlin's systematic meddling." -CBS News/AP "Details Putin's nearly 20-year campaign to undermine democratic values, and it underscores the need for the United States to more forcefully and urgently acknowledge the Kremlin's strategy, and to take stronger actions to protect our homeland from cyber intrusions." -Newsday "An impressive piece of work. In more than 200 pages, it lays out Putin's tactics over nearly two decades - and includes a host of specific practical recommendations for a U.S. response." -Foreign Policy "The report, which chronicles Russian disinformation efforts in 19 countries, calls on Donald Trump to assert leadership on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, saying: 'Never before in American history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly ignored by a US president.'" -The Guardian "Provides valuable insight into the current Washington thinking on Russian interference and how to counteract it . . . Visibly, as well as covertly, Russia is, without doubt, trying to project influence through a multitude of channels, and that influence is often essentially anti-Western." -Bloomberg "Warns of deepening Russian interference throughout Europe and concludes that even as some Western democracies have responded with aggressive counter-measures, President Trump has offered no strategic plan to bolster their efforts or safeguard the U.S. from again falling victim to the Kremlin's systematic meddling." -CBS News/AP "Details Putin's nearly 20-year campaign to undermine democratic values, and it underscores the need for the United States to more forcefully and urgently acknowledge the Kremlin's strategy, and to take stronger actions to protect our homeland from cyber intrusions." -Newsday