Russian Rhetoric, Trump’s Twitter Tactics, and Uber to Arizona
Here’s What You Need to Know
Reading headlines and press releases coming from the Obama administration that boldly claim Russia, “hacked the election,” it would appear as though the United States just had an illegitimate election where voting machines around the country were hacked into by a foreign government intent on deciding the next president. The reality is that a political party, not the election itself, was hacked, and the resulting leaked emails only stood to further prove things many voters already felt was true anyway. The overheated rhetoric and rush to judgement by the Administration and many in the media has made it nearly impossible to separate fact from supposition regarding claims of Russian hacking, but here are some of the things we know:
- Russia Did Not Hack The U.S. Electric Grid: As an example of a major media outlet getting caught up in the new “red scare,” the Washington Post recently published an article claiming Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid through a utility in Vermont. Yet only an hour and half after publishing the bombastic claims, the Post revealed that malware was detected in only a single Burlington Eclectic Department laptop that wasn’t even connected to the grid.
- The Report Cited By The Administration Did Not Identify Who Hacked The DNC: When examining a third party report used by Administration officials to declare Russian involvement in the DNC hack, it actually only suggests that it is entirely possible the attack was conducted by Russia. The security experts who drafted the report responded to the administration’s claims by pointing out that their analysis of IP addresses showed that they, “originate from 61 countries and 389 different organizations with no clear attribution to Russia.” They also pointed out that, while the malware used in the attack did originate in Russia, it is widely available online for use by a variety of international hackers.
- No Actual Mechanics Of The Presidential Election Were Hacked: Despite the misleading rhetoric, no evidence has been presented or claims have been made that voting machines, voter registration records, or any other items or databases directly involved with the electoral process have been tampered with by hackers. The total extent of the hacks is relegated to the email records of a political campaign committee and a political campaign.
By making it sound as though the election itself was hacked by foreign agents, the Obama administration is injecting partisan politics into a cocktail of pre-existing fear, surrounding both the geopolitical threat of Russia and cyber warfare. Aside from being simply misleading, this behavior is creating a dangerous national panic and rush to judgement that will only serve to obscure the truly disturbing, legitimate security concerns regarding Russia and cyberattacks, while complicating policymakers’ ability to address these issues.
News You Can Use
TRUMP’S METHOD TO THE TWITTER “MADNESS”
How President-elect Trump has used his Twitter account has been a major point of debate since long before he even decided to run for President. Despite cries of concern about being “un-presidential” over late-night tweets and off-the-cuff comments, some are now beginning to notice a method to the perceived madness. In a Wall Street Journal column, Gerald Seib argues Trump’s seemingly scattershot Twitter musings actually work to achieve important strategic objectives. First, they position him for a negotiation or deal by staking out a claim beyond the bottom-line results he hopes to achieve. Second, with one click, he achieves near-total domination of the agenda and news cycle. Third, they create rabbits for his opponents to chase. Instead of forming their own lines of attack or building a cohesive message, Trump’s critics act like dogs chasing cars as they jump to respond to missives of the day instead of building their own message. It will be fascinating to watch this strategy play out as Trump takes office and potentially riles the old-school style of bureaucratic tweeting that leaves the tool almost useless to federal agencies forced to muffle their messages through endless approval processes and procedure.
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CIVIL SERVANTS HEADING FOR THE HILLS
The federal government employs 2.5 million people, roughly 7,000 of whom are senior managers who are tasked with serving the political appointees of whichever presidential administration may be in power. But, with a new Administration coming into power under a banner of “draining the swamp,” many civil servants appear to be considering a career change. A study published last month suggested that based on historical trends, civil servants tend to leave government service when a new administration enters, particularly one that appears hostile to the ideology of a given government department. Considering the Trump administration’s plans to reform government and potentially radically overhaul several federal agencies and departments, civil servants appear likely to be running for the hills.
FOREIGN POLICY OF ABSENCE
On December 13th, President Obama’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, had a shocking, teary-eyed outburst. During a meeting of the UN Security Council discussing the situation in Syria, she asked her Russian counterpart, “Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you?” Norwegian Nobel Institute Research Director and foreign policy expert Asle Toje has pointed to the break in diplomatic decorum as “a sad metaphor” for the Obama administration’s foreign policy strategy of avoiding any form of risk at all costs. Toje argues that Obama’s decision to step back from leading in world affairs has been a key shortcoming of the Administration’s foreign policy doctrine and has directly led to the power vacuum being filled by players like Russia, Iran, and China. This misstep makes Obama’s post-election aggressive moves to confront Russia all the more difficult and ineffective.
CALIFORNIA CANCELS ITS UBER RIDE
Arizona will soon see a fleet of Uber’s self-driving test vehicles out on the roads following the company’s loss of registration for such vehicles in California. Uber refused to pursue a permit for testing autonomous driving in California, maintaining that their vehicles are not classified as autonomous under California law because drivers are still present in vehicles at all times. After meeting with California regulators on December 22, Uber had all 16 DMV registrations for their test vehicles in revoked. Rather than continuing the battle in California, Uber redirected its efforts to Arizona, where it was welcomed with open arms by Governor Doug Ducey who tweeted, “Here in #AZ we WELCOME this kind of technology & innovation! #ditchcalifornia #AZmeansBIZ.” Uber’s California fallout is the latest example of how excessive regulations can stifle innovation and force companies to take their business elsewhere.
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FIGHTING TRAFFIC IN THE THIRD WORLD
On December 19th, the World Bank launched the Open Transport Partnership, a new initiative that collects anonymized GPS data from e-Taxi companies – such as Easy Taxi, Grab, and Le Taxi – to create an open-source platform for transport agencies in developing countries to design evidence-based solutions for traffic and road safety challenges. Elsewhere, tech companies like Uber, Google, Waze, and Microsoft are using this same type of data to predict traffic jams, redirect drivers, and, in some cases, providing this data to cities like Boston that can use the information to make decisions about road improvements, parking zones, and traffic infrastructure projects. By offering this platform to developing countries with limited government resources, tech companies are helping these countries build systems for scalable and automatic collection of traffic data that has the potential to dramatically impact both the public and private sectors of these countries the same way they are impacting major metropolitan centers of the First World.
Mark Your Calendar
Tuesday, January 10 – President Obama’s Farewell Address
Friday, January 20 – Inauguration Day