A witness testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee’s first public hearing on alleged Russian election-meddling claimed that Kremlin cyber operations could split the US apart.
Compared to its counterpart in the House, the Senate Intelligence Committee has been heralded as the sober panel–one putting aside politics to get to the bottom of what actually happened in last year’s election.
During Thursday’s proceedings, however, both witnesses and lawmakers peddled hyperbole which did not seem aimed at advancing a serious inquiry.
“Americans should be concerned because right now a foreign country, whether they realize it or not, is pitting them against their neighbor,” claimed Clint Watts, a fellow at the rightwing Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Watts was describing the effect of Russian “active measures” that promote news stories critical of the US on social media. He went on to allege that fake news stories directed by Moscow could cleave the US into factions, and suck away faith in governing intuitions.
“If Americans don’t believe that their vote counts, they’re not going to show up and participate in democracy,” Watts claimed. “If they don’t believe that what they’re doing is part of a government system that actually represents them, they’re not going to go to jury duty.”
During large portions of the hearing, the issue of alleged Russian hacking of Democratic Party operatives took a back seat to discussions about Russian media and online spamming tactics.
“Russia continually sought to diminish and undermine our trust in the American media,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member on the committee, alleged.
“Russian propaganda outlets like RT and Sputnik successfully produce and peddle disinformation to American audiences in pursuit of Moscow’s preferred outcome,” Warner added.
The remarks contrasted with prior comments made by Warner and the chairman of the committee, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), about the focus of the panel’s inquiry.
Burr told reporters in a press briefing on Wednesday that Senate investigators were poring through thousands of pages of raw intelligence to double-check previous findings about Russian activities.
In January, spy agencies released a report concluding that Russia directed specific cyber attacks during the election. They said it was part of an effort to undermine the democratic process, hurt candidate Hillary Clinton, and benefit their preferred candidate: Donald Trump.
The CIA and FBI gave high confidence to these conclusions.
Burr said on Wednesday that his committee’s investigation would determine if “our confidence levels on their ratings of low, medium, or high confidence, in fact, match.”
Warner followed-up saying: “We want to find out what was potentially left on the cutting room floor…but still might be worthy of further looking.”
But during Thursday’s hearing, there was little skepticism about the intelligence community’s conclusions.
“Let’s all be clear about what happened: a foreign country, Russia, attacked the heart of our democracy,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said in opening remarks. “They can and will do so again.”
Harris quoted former Vice President Dick Cheney describing Russia’s alleged behavior as an act of war, and asked the assembled witnesses if they agreed.
Eugene Rumer, the Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, urged caution on rhetoric.
“I think we should be careful using terms such as ‘an act of war,’” he said.
“When you declare something to be an act of war, it calls for certain responses we may not be ready to take on,” Rumer added.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, all hearings are still on hold in the House Intelligence Committee’s probe on the matter. Democrats are calling on the panel’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to step down over his close ties to the Trump administration.
