Shane Harris

In what will stand as among the most definitive public accounts of the Kremlin’s attack on the American political system, the report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation laid out in precise, chronological detail how “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.” The Russians’ goal, Mueller emphasized at several points, was to assist Donald Trump’s run for the White House and to damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

The nation’s top intelligence chiefs testified Feb 13 that they fully expect Russia to seek to disrupt the 2018 midterm elections. Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats said that Russia will continue using propaganda, false personas and social media to undermine the upcoming elections.

Malicious software used in a hack against the Democratic National Committee is similar to that used against the Ukrainian military, a computer-security firm has determined, adding evidence to allegations that the hackers who infiltrated the DNC were working for the Russian government. The malware used in the DNC intrusion was a “variant” of one designed to help locate the position of Ukrainian artillery units over the past two years, the security company, CrowdStrike, said in a report released Dec 22. The artillery units were deployed to defend Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. CrowdStrike concluded that the malware used against the Ukrainian military was designed by a hacker group known to security experts as Fancy Bear. The American security firm said the group works for the Russian military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, and was one of two Russian hacker outfits that stole emails from the DNC earlier in 2015.

More than a year after Edward Snowden revealed a vast network of eavesdropping by the United States, a new poll has found that people around the world are overwhelmingly opposed to American electronic spying and far less likely to believe that the US respects the personal freedoms of its own people.

The poll found huge opposition to the US government monitoring the e-mails and phone calls of people in their own countries. Overall, 81 percent of respondents said it was "unacceptable" for the US to monitor citizens of their countries, and 73 percent said it was unacceptable to spy on their leaders.

A US solar panel manufacturer whose business secrets were allegedly stolen by Chinese computer hackers has asked the US government to investigate the matter, setting in motion a process that could see the United States impose trade penalties for the first time in response to state-sponsored cyber-espionage against an American company.

In a filing with the Commerce Department on July 1, the US subsidiary of German company SolarWorld, which builds solar panels and equipment, asked officials to investigate allegations contained in a recent criminal indictment accusing five members of the People's Liberation Army with hacking the company's computers and stealing proprietary information.

Prosecutors say that the hackers took SolarWorld's price lists, product designs, and communications between the company and its lawyers in a series of computer incursions that began in 2012. SolarWorld wants Commerce Department officials to question Chinese officials and request documents about Beijing's alleged cyberspying.

[Commentary] “It’s abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programs is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community." That was Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, blasting US spies for not fully informing congressional overseers about one of the more contentious intelligence programs in recent memory.

But Sen Feinstein's bark was far worse than her bite. Shortly after her remarks, the senator proposed a bill that would have allowed the NSA to continue its bulk collection of Americans' phone records, by far the most controversial and legally questionable of all the secret NSA programs revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden. Now, after her unprecedented attack that accused the CIA of spying on Senate staffers and impeding an investigation into alleged torture, Sen Feinstein has to make a choice: stand her ground by taking concrete steps to rein in the agency or again back away from her most incendiary charges and allow another spy agency to continue with business as usual.

If she chooses to play hardball, Feinstein can make the tenure of CIA Director John Brennan a living nightmare. From her perch on the intelligence committee, she could drag top spies before the panel for months on end. She could place holds on White House nominees to key agency positions. She could launch a broader investigation into the CIA's relations with Congress and she could hit the agency where it really hurts: its pocketbook. One of the senator's other committee assignments is the Senate Appropriations Committee, which allocates funds to Langley.

Following the disclosure by Edward Snowden that the CIA's black budget request of $14.7 billion for 2013 surged past every other spy agency, it may be in for a haircut. But whether Feinstein will use any of the tools in her toolbox is far from certain.