Covering Campaign 2020: When Leadership Doesn't Make the News

In a country that considers its democracy an exemplar the news deserves headlines Citing intelligence briefings last week Biden warned that Russia and China are waging clandestine political attacks on the 2020 elections quotWe know from before and I guarantee you I know now because now I get briefings againquot he said quotThe Russians are still engaged in trying to delegitimize our electoral processquot Biden added quotChina and others are engaged as well in activities that are designed for us to lose confidence in the outcomequotFor anyone who calls the assault on US elections old news they39re missing the point Presidential candidates receive the same kind of intelligence briefings delivered to the President Like the report of Moscow39s bounty on US soldiers the intelligence community a 63 billionayear enterprise believes that the current political warfare rises to a level where the President needs to know Trump of course has said nothing In speaking out Biden didn39t reveal sources and methods or attack his opponent he warned about the threat to democracy That39s what leaders doBiden isn39t the first presidential candidate to receive intelligence briefings According to CIA39s Center for the Study of Intelligence in 1952 President Truman first authorized CIA briefings for then candidates Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson Whoever won Truman wanted his successor to hit the ground running Except for Trump who in 2016 publicly disparaged the briefings before he even received the first every candidate has welcomed them albeit varying the format to fit their interests For example presidents Kennedy and Carter had multiple sessions Nixon and Reagan had only oneThat candidate Trump dismissed their value of course isn39t is surprise Reporters by now have emptied barrels of ink recounting his antagonistic relationship as president with the intelligence community Numerous stories have described his inability to listen to much less absorb its daily reports and analysis Disinterested in reading maps pictures and charts apparently suffice On neuralgic subjects such as Russia39s political warfare a threat that Trump calls quota hoaxquot oral briefings reportedly omit the topic to avoid his tantrums Unfortunately whatever the substantive loss because of the calming techniqueamp8212Trump says categorically he knows more than anyone else no matter the issueamp8212when it comes to the President39s willful ignorance about Russia the American people are paying the priceTake the governmentwide effort to secure the 2020 elections In 2019 then Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats announced the creation of the Election Threat Executive Coats named Shelby Pierson an intelligence veteran to the job along with a leadership board comprised of senior officials from a dozen or so agencies who coordinate the election39s defense The launch didn39t go well Assuming that Congress needed uptodate intelligence Pierson provoked Trump39s outrage when she testified that Moscow was again trying to subvert the election to help him Pierson still has her job although informing the public about the dangers to 2020 is another matter Lately the Election Threat Executive hasn39t made a peepThe record speaks for itself The contrast between the candidates39 behavior also couldn39t be clearer With Russia and China the two foremost American adversaries attacking the integrity of the democratic process Trump remains mute while Biden sounds the alarm If Trump was only a candidate fair enough chalk it up to selfinterest But Trump is the President He leads the government and his statements are its marching orders Like Sherlock Holmes39 dog that didn39t barkamp8212the canine whose silence at the crime scene revealed the pup knew his master39s attackeramp8212Trump39s silence is a national story in an election entering its homestretchLeaderless or not government officials are trying to do their job According to the Director of National Intelligence the senior counterintelligence official is leading briefings on election threats for the presidential campaigns and national parties Researchers who follow Russian Chinese and others39 political warfare would say it39s none too soon As for voters who are the primary targets of Moscow39s growing disinformation offensive bogus social media posts fraudulent news stories and racial as well as political provocations the experts also point out the Russians are becoming more brazen by the dayMatthew Olsen the National Security Agency39s former general counsel put it this way quotThe lesson from the election in 2016 is to be more forthcoming publicly about these types of threatsquot Joe Biden is doing his part It39s valuable but in 2020 as the attacks on the campaigns and the democratic process mount the news coverage is mirroring Trump39s silence Both are deafeningPhoto courtesy of Kent HarringtonClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Covering Campaign 2020: When Leadership Doesn't Make the News

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Kent M. Harrington

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