Kompromat: How Russia Undermined American Democracy

by Jeff Pegues

Overview

A timely and essential book from the CBS correspondent who has led their coverage of Russia election interference and the FBI counterintelligence investigation into whether the Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russians. In this compelling account of how the Russians hacked the 2016 election, CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent Jeff Pegues reveals how far the Kremlin poked into voter databases and why it happened. He also investigates the steps taken to shore up election systems in states across the country ahead of the 2018 midterm and indeed the 2020 Presidential election. Based on exclusive interviews with officials from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and cybersecurity experts, Pegues takes readers behind the scenes and into the minds of investigators following the case. He delves into the shadowy world of Russian spies, unraveling the complicated web of contacts between Russian operatives and Trump representatives during the campaign. In one chapter, he focuses on Valeri Gerasimov, widely believed to be the mastermind behind a Russian cyber strategy designed to influence and disrupt democracies. Evidence is presented showing that the Russians infiltrated not only Democratic Party computer networks in the US, but networks in the Ukraine and Europe as well. Consulting with representatives of top cyber security firms, the author discusses what states are doing to protect voting systems in the next midterm elections and beyond. Fascinating and chilling at the same time, Kompromat opens a window into the murky world of espionage, digital warfare, and a newly aggressive Russia brazenly inserting itself into U.S. politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633884298
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	07/10/2018
Pages:	287
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jeff Pegues is the author of Black and Blue: Inside the Divide between the Police and Black America and Kompromat: How Russia Undermined American Democracy. He is the justice and homeland security correspondent for CBS News. In this capacity he has participated in closed-door interviews with former FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson. In the aftermath of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, Pegues orchestrated an interview with the chiefs of police representing four major U.S. cities. In 2015, he covered all angles of the Charleston, South Carolina, church killings, beginning with the manhunt for the suspect and culminating with a special report analyzing President Obama's eulogy at the funeral of State Senator Clementa Pinckney. Previous to joining CBS News, Pegues spent ten years at WABC-TV in New York. He is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, numerous Emmy Award nominations, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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Preface
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Kompromat"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Jeff Pegues.
Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface 9

Chapter 1 This Is Warfare 13

Chapter 2 Mining for Clues at the DNC 17

Chapter 3 Meanwhile, Back at the White House … 23

Chapter 4 The Dossier 27

Chapter 5 They Are Hacking the Hell out of Us 31

Chapter 6 Dead Drops, Invisible Ink, Propaganda, and Deep Cover 39

Chapter 7 Modern-Day Spies 43

Chapter 8 Conversation with a Ghost 51

Chapter 9 Vladimir Putin: Who Is This Guy? 59

Chapter 10 The Playbook 65

Chapter 11 Putin's Grudge against Clinton 71

Chapter 12 The Separation between Federal and State Government 75

Chapter 13 From Civil Rights to Russian Intelligence 81

Chapter 14 Living the Dream: Birmingham 89

Chapter 15 Moscow on the Hudson 93

Chapter 16 They're Talking 97

Chapter 17 The Cyber Ref: A Conversation with Michael Hayden 103

Chapter 18 Election Day 109

Chapter 19 What Has Just Happened? 115

Chapter 20 A Sidenote about Comey 119

Chapter 21 There Can't Be Two Presidents 125

Chapter 22 Obama Responds 131

Chapter 23 9/11, Antifa, and Hamilton 68: A Conversation with Laura Rosenberger 135

Chapter 24 Race-Based Propaganda: Undermining Democracy by Tapping Our Achilles' Heel 145

Chapter 25 The Documents 149

Chapter 26 Putin's End Game in the United States 155

Chapter 27 Clues for Reporters: That Nagging Feeling 159

Chapter 28 Voting Booth Dinosaurs 163

Chapter 29 A Hole in the Dike 177

Chapter 30 Cyber Tools 183

Chapter 31 Should We Trust Them? 193

Chapter 32 Things Have Gone Horribly Awry 207

Chapter 33 The New Playing Field 213

Chapter 34 Our Playbook 219

Chapter 35 Why Didn't They See It? 223

Chapter 36 A Patriotic Russian Hacker 225

Author's Note 229

Acknowledgments 229

Notes 231

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

05/14/2018
Reviewed by Ed BurmilaThis volume delivers on its promise to pull back the curtain and show readers the shadowy world of cyberespionage in action before, during, and since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It is an excellent primer for readers who know about “Russian hackers” broadly and want a detailed look at what happened and what evidence points to Russia and the Kremlin. Close followers of this story, however, are unlikely to learn new information.Pegues supplements his retelling of the hacking of DNC email servers—the “33,000 emails” Trump famously dared “someone” to find during the campaign—with numerous expert and insider interviews. The story of a system slow to react to a new and unfamiliar threat is reminiscent of the many journalistic accounts of the intelligence and security community’s attempt to raise alarms about al-Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks. A key takeaway is the inability or refusal of the campaigns and government officials to recognize the breadth and seriousness of the hacking problem until significant damage had already been done. In this sense, the book reveals how dispiritingly little decision makers have learned from experience. The strong reporting does not, however, lead to new ground being broken. Readers who have followed this long-running story closely will find no new bombshells. The interviews mostly add color and depth—for example, a former FBI investigative specialist describes WikiLeaks as “the fast food of spying”—rather than revelations. The book is a strong and compact summary of the problem, the actors behind it, and its significance; in that sense, it is good journalism and good reporting. What it is not is an exposé. The author and publisher are careful not to overpromise, though, and the book is presented honestly as what it is: a look behind the curtain.Though thorough, it has two shortcomings. One is the confusion over a key element of the narrative: what was or is Russia’s goal? At points Pegues presents evidence that it is a larger Russian effort to undermine American democracy, sow dissent, and damage the credibility of American elections. At other points it is suggested that the Russian agenda, driven by Putin’s strong dislike for Hillary Clinton, was partisan and designed specifically to harm her campaign and benefit Trump. Evidence exists to support both interpretations, and the conflict between these two narratives is not resolved.Second, the chapters on the measures being taken to prevent similar cyberattacks in 2018 are not persuasive. Certainly any measures known to reporters are unlikely to be effective against hackers who, throughout this story, are depicted as being multiple steps ahead of any attempts to thwart them. What’s missing is an analysis of whether the goal of undermining American democracy is succeeding, or how Trump and House Republicans have advanced that goal by claiming electoral fraud, discrediting the Justice Department and intelligence communities, and more.This account succeeds as reporting on what happened in 2016, but should be approached with realistic expectations, offering neither new revelations nor conclusive insight on Russian motives.Ed Burmila is an assistant professor of political science at Bradley University and has written on American elections and politics for Rolling Stone, The Nation, and other publications.

Publishers Weekly

"A must-read. Kompromat reads like a fast-paced thriller. Only in this case, it is real. Jeff Pegues sheds much-needed light upon Russia’s campaign to undermine American democracy through a combination of high-tech cyber means and ‘old-school’ deceptive KGB tactics.”   —Frank Cilluffo, associate vice president and director at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, and former special assistant to the president for Homeland Security “Incredible! Excellent research and detail.”   —Erroll Southers, former FBI agent and former California deputy director of Homeland Security   “Provides an insider’s look into the mind of an investigative journalist and takes the reader down dark corridors of compromising information to assemble the facts behind the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Highly recommended for anyone trying to understand a very dark period of our recent history.”   —Eric O’Neill, former FBI counterintelligence operative   “Both a great read and an unmatched account of Russia’s brazen attack on American democracy. The range and the depth of insights from an expert like Jeff Pegues provide unrivaled detail for understanding this painful chapter in America’s history.”   —James Lewis, senior vice president, Center for Strategic and International Studies   “Chilling… [the] interviews create a vibrant atmosphere that gives the book the feel of an espionage thriller…. Accessible.” —Foreword Reviews

From the Publisher