U.S. Intelligence Community: Snow Is Black

Aug. 8, 2020 (EIRNS)—William Evanina, director of a “mission center” of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), called the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, released on Aug. 7 their threat assessment of foreign disruption of the integrity of the U.S. election process. Done without blinking an eye, it takes self-mockery to a whole new level.

Put aside the embedded assumptions, now taken for granted, that anything appearing on social media that is negative about actions of the United States is proof that the governments of Russia, China or Iran are responsible. The horrifying core of the problem is that the only examples provided are when the three countries dare to object to openly-admitted U.S. actions to interfere in their countries.

Russia’s crime? A Ukrainian lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, thinks there is corruption involved in Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company. He dares to speak publicly about 2015 phone calls between then Vice President Joe Biden and then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, which show Biden’s push for the dismissal of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General investigating Burisma. (This is so, independent of the minor corruption of the vested interest of Biden’s son.) Evanina relates that Moscow objects to both Biden’s role in the 2014 forcible overthrow of the elected government of Ukraine and to Biden’s “support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia....” Hence, Derkach is a Russian actor. Now, take this in reverse: Biden is involved in supporting an opposition force in a foreign country and in overthrowing another government. Bringing up even the relatively insignificant matter of complicity in a coverup of corruption of an energy company is the ODNI’s example of interference in the integrity of the U.S. election. One is taken aback, as in the proverbial case of the child who murders his parents, and then pleads for the mercy of the court—for, you see, he is an orphan.

It doesn’t get any better. Iran is upset about “a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change” and “probably will” have “anti-U.S. content” on social media. That’s it. There is nothing else provided. The U.S. is fomenting “regime change” in their country, and it is probable that they will raise objections on social media—that is the interference. Was one of the parties carrying out “regime change” activities while the other one was conspiring to object to the interference on social media?

China’s crime gets the most detail. They have been “critical of the current administration’s COVID-19 response, closure of China’s Houston Consulate, and actions on other issues. For example, it has harshly criticized the administration’s statements and actions on Hong Kong, TikTok, the legal status of the South China Sea, and China’s efforts to dominate the 5G market.” If they would only not comment on any of these matters, the U.S. elections would be safe.

The media may seize upon the “gotcha” lines that Russia is said to be undermining Biden and/or China and Iran are undermining Trump. (Sure enough, within hours, Trump was confronted by a reporter’s reference to the ODNI’s assessment that Moscow prefers Trump for re-election.) However, the reality is that it is the intelligence community itself that is undermining the public discourse. They are doing exactly what they accuse foreign governments of doing: using “covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway U.S. voters’ preferences and perspectives, shift U.S. policies, increase discord in the United States, and undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic process.” As Pogo famously said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The ODNI’s self-mockery may be unintentional, but it is a clinical example of being caught in the hellish, British imperial world of Lord Bertrand Russell:

“I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology.... The social psychologists of the future ... will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black.... When the technique has been perfected, every government ... will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen.”