Sources: building on tactics deployed during 2018 midterms, US Cyber Command is exploring additional strategies to counter Russian 2020 election interference
Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials …
The December 2019 report matters because it signals those 2018 tactics are being converted from ad hoc measures into a repeatable playbook for 2020 — with information-warfare options reportedly scoped all the way up to senior Russian officials, not just the operative layer.
First-order effects
Russian operatives planning 2020 interference now face a US force that has already demonstrated it will operate inside their networks preemptively, raising the cost and detection risk of any campaign.
Senior Russian officials become potential direct targets of information-warfare tactics, expanding the target set beyond the troll farms and technical infrastructure hit in 2018.
Second-order effects
Moscow faces a two-front exposure: election infrastructure it might attack is defended by a command already positioned offensively, while its own power grid — where US malware sits per the June 2019 reporting — offers retaliation leverage if interference escalates.
The White House and Congress are pushed toward codifying these authorities permanently; the 2018 grants that enabled the grid operation become the template lawmakers either renew, expand, or constrain before the next cycle.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, offensive cyber becomes a routine instrument of election defense rather than an emergency measure — normalizing persistent engagement inside adversary networks as standard practice every US election cycle.
That normalization sets up the structural question the later record bears out: how much leeway a president gives Cyber Command becomes a policy swing factor, as seen when Biden curbed its offensive latitude in his January 2021 directive after SolarWinds.
The trend: US election defense is shifting from post-hoc attribution and indictments toward preemptive offensive operations inside Russian networks, with each cycle's tactics becoming the baseline for the next.
The plans @nakashimae reports U.S. Cybercom is developing to counter Russian attacks in 2020 echo the options drafted by Obama cyber chief Michael Daniel in 2016— until, as reported by @DavidCornDC and me in Russian Roulette, he was told to “stand down.” https://www.yahoo.com/...…
Don't kid yourselves... they've been doing this since Obama was in and they first saw the interference. U.S. CyberCom contemplates information warfare to counter Russian interference in the 2020 election https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
“...according to current and former U.S. officials” Somebodies leaking highly classified national security state secrets & capabilities. Wonder if #Trump Admin will charge leakers w/ Espionage? Asking for a friend. Oh, I forgot. ‘Authorized’ leaking is OK. https://www.washingtonp…
While GOP Senators posture and gaslight about who interfered in the 2016 election, nice to know that the US military is still focused on actual real life threats https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
We're pretty sure none of this bull hockey will happen. After all, the administration could have insisted on paper ballots as a much easier fix. https://twitter.com/...
I'm not sure if a piecemeal approach will be effective, especially if it relies on Russians responding like Westerners would. How about the strategic goal of disrupting messaging flowing from the Kremlin to the GOP faithful? https://twitter.com/...
The US government's plan to stop Russia from interfering in the 2020 election is to DOX prominent Russians and leak their information online. Stop laughing, I am serious. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... pic.twitter.com/Xlg5eZCrRV
Good to see government thinking about ways to impose cost on the actors behind foreign #influenceoperations. Important reminder that a whole of society (industry, civil society, government, media) approach is essential here... https://twitter.com/...
“Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials and oligarchs if Moscow tries to interfere in the 2020 US elections through hacking election systems or sowing widespread discord.” https://www.washingtonp…
“The options do not envision any attempt to influence Russian society at large, which officials saw as having limited success given Putin's control of the country, including much of the media.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...