Congressman's bill will fight back against Russian meddling

Congressman Adam Smith is proposing a bill that will fight back against Russian meddling in American affairs.

“Basically, Russia is engaged in a war against us right now that we are just not participating in,” Smith told Seattle’s Morning News. “We at least need to get on the playing field and start trying.”

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Smith represents Washington’s 9th Congressional District. He notes that recent news about Russia hacking the DNC, or spreading false news stories to favor candidate Donald Trump is not the first time the country has messed with the United States’ democracy.

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“Russia has been doing this for at least 10 years,” Smith said. “They have a very comprehensive effort right now to undermine Western democracies, and to undermine our alliances. They use cyber warfare, computer hacking. They also use false information to great effect.”

For example, Smith said, Russian agents will craft false stories about an American issue, then target a U.S. citizen, even a military member, through Twitter or other avenues. The hope is that the American will then spread the story themselves.

Smith’s new bill aims to do a few things by setting up a comprehensive counter-strategy. It will strengthen allies against Russia and reaffirm Article 5 of NATO which says the U.S. will defend its allies. It will increase U.S. military presence where there is potential for Russian aggression. And it will push America into countering Russia’s online meddling.

“We can start pushing a message,” Smith said. “During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, we had the voice of America. We were out there aggressively in the media space arguing why our system was better than the Soviet system. We are not doing that anymore.”

“And we are certainly not taking advantage of the new mediums,” he said. “If Russia can spread stories like this, we can spread stories as well that tell of the failures of Putin, that tell of the suffering of the Russian people, that tell of the successes of Western democracies.”

Russian complications

Smith said that there is one issue his bill faces — Trump. More specifically, the looming investigations and speculation around the president and alleged ties to Russia.

“The complicating factor about the Trump administration, of course, is President Trump’s connections to Russia; the connections of his campaign,” Smith said. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but it’s bizarre that his entire national security team wanted President Trump to reaffirm Article 5 in his speech in Brussels and the president simply didn’t say it…”

“What this is about is an autocratic dictatorship, or fascism, versus Pluralistic Democracy, transparency, and Capitalistic freedom,” Smith said. “When you look at some of the things that President Trump is doing; silencing much of the media … the cult of personality – I, Donald Trump can alone fix the problems facing the world – that is, frankly, frighteningly similar to what Putin did when he came to power in Russia. That complicates it.”

“It is a very difficult situation and it’s very unfortunate that Donald Trump is president at a time when we so desperately need to come up with a comprehensive strategy to counter what Russia is doing to undermine the very values that our country is founded on,” Smith said.

Cox Media Group