As the debate about Russia's interference in the 2016 US election pushes into 2018, a look behind the scenes at American counterintelligence efforts reveals red flags have long been waving—but that the US formed what the Washington Post calls a "piecemeal response" rife players who didn't take the threat seriously enough and internal conflict on how to deal with it.
"Dozens" of ex- and current US government, European, and NATO sources offered insight to the Post on these "miscalculations and bureaucratic inertia," with the US adopting a "naive" belief that Russia was a weakened rival after the Cold War, per an Obama administration official. Now, others are concerned the Trump administration is downplaying the Russian risk as well—a move some fear could imperil the democratic institutions underlying American society.
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