Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Texas Tribune

Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says

Gov. Greg Abbott's decision in 2015 to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor a federal military exercise prompted significant criticism. A former CIA director said Wednesday that the move emboldened Russians to next target elections.

BY CASSANDRA POLLOCK AND ALEX SAMUELS MAY 3, 2018 UPDATED: 2:17 PM

A former director of the CIA and NSA said Wednesday that hysteria in Texas over a 2015 U.S. military training exercise called Jade Helm was fueled by Russians wanting to dominate “the information space,” and that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to send the Texas State Guard to monitor the operation gave them proof of the power of such misinformation campaigns.

Michael Hayden, speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe podcast, chalked up peoples’ fear over Jade Helm 15 to “Russian bots and the American alt-right media [that] convinced many Texans [Jade Helm] was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents.”

Abbott ordered the State Guard to monitor the federal exercise soon after news broke of the operation. Hayden said that move gave Russians the go-ahead to continue — and possibly expand — their efforts to spread fear.

“At that point, I’m figuring the Russians are saying, ‘We can go big time,’” Hayden said of Abbott's response. “At that point, I think they made the decision, ‘We’re going to play in the electoral process.’”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-helm-exercise-texas-was-fueled-russians-former-cia-/

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Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

Hysteria in Texas over the U.S. military training exercise called Jade Helm was fueled by Russians, said a former director of the CIA and NSA. http://bit.ly/2KxEwXP

Link to tweet

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Suckers on RW bought it wholesale; so stupid they are. Putin always sewing chaos in USA. . . . nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. And now they are blaming Obama, of course

Jade Helm may have been an innocuous military exercise.

But true to form, Nobama hyped it up and allowed it to become an overblown conspiracy theory designed to mess with conservatives. Much the same way he jerked us around with his various phony birth certificate lies.

Why tell the truth when lying and deceiving is so much more fun?

7 posted on 5/3/2018, 12:45:46 PM by Responsibility2nd

[Squinch]

2. Looking back it seems obvious, but at the time we didn't even know there was such a thing.

[Julian Englis]

3. Basically, a practice run for the Russians' 2016 election interference n/t

[lagomorph777]

4. So RW Texans told Putin: "Americans are gullible idiots. Go for it!"

Nice.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. RW suckers all over the USA. . . . nt

[Gothmog]

10. Yep

Link to tweet

[wolfie001]

5. Don't forget the racist repukes! nt

[LanternWaste]

8. Hanlon's razor illustrated as abjectly wrong.

Hanlon's razor illustrated as abjectly wrong.

I think I'll begin presuming malice rather than stupidity from now on. Hard habit to break.

[Gothmog]

9. Michael Hayden reveals Jade Helm was Russian Disinformation Campaign

This is interesting https://www.txdemocrats.org/media/former-nsa-and-cia-director-michael-hayden-reveals-jade-helm-was-russian-disinformation-campaign/

Austin, TX – Yesterday, Former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden revealed that Jade Helm 15 was a test-run of the first Russian disinformation campaign.

At the 33:02 minute mark, Hayden describes the incident in detail. For the first time, the former NSA and CIA Director reveals that Russia engaged in information warfare to convince Texans that Jade Helm 15 was an Obama planned military exercise to round up political dissidents. The story drew massive controversy as Texas Governor Abbott lent credence to conspiracy theorists by calling in the Texas National Guard to monitor our own U.S. Military....

Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia issued the following statement:

“Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was a Russian pawn and a useful idiot for Russian efforts to turn gullible Texas Republicans against the United States.

“Michael Hayden knows a Russian operation when he sees it. Hayden served the America people under three different administrations in high-profile intelligence roles.

“But, it doesn’t take an intelligence expert to see that Trump Republican Greg Abbott calling the Texas National Guard on the U.S. Military was downright idiocy.

[farmbo]

11. Those gullible Fox-watching rubes have fallen for so many fake conspiracies...

... that they couldn’t recognize a Real conspiracy if it suckled them on the arse.

Like, for example, a politician who conspires with the foreign intelligence service of our sworn enemy to swing an election in his favor.

[Gothmog]

12. Juanita Jean had some fun with this story

Juanita Jean remembers the furor over this conspiracy theory http://juanitajean.com/jade-helm-was-a-russian-job/

Mot of y’all will remember Jade Helm, a army training operation that every damn nut job in Texas was convinced was a cover for Obama coming to take our guns and put us all in re-education camps. They stormed city council meets and went to the State Capitol to scream and holler.



It was the end of the damn world, y’all.

They even got governor Greg Abbott to send out the Texas State Guard to monitor the army to make sure they didn’t sneak around stealing guns.

Oh Good Lord. Even the day after the training was over and everything was okay, the nuts said it would have happened if they hadn’t been watching. And, you know, scaring crap outta each other and emptying the food shelves of Walmart.

Juanita Jean was happy to see that this was a Russian disinformation stunt

Y’all, I personally know some of the idiots who were convinced that Obama was gonna use the military to take our guns. And, for your entertainment value, the internet machine is filled with pictures.

They got pranked. By Russia.

And the head dope? Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

We’re gonna enjoy this.

[Turbineguy]

13. Putin can get conservatives to do pretty much whatever he wants.

The Russians have done well. Very impressive. They've been working on this sort of thing for well over 100 years. There was a period where they tried to influence "the left", but that didn't really work out because people on the left have a limited gullibility. Also, people on the left are less willing to pay to be deceived.

[Gothmog]

14. How Greg Abbott Got Played by the Russians During His Jade Helm Freakout

Greg is an idiot who was played by the russians https://www.texasobserver.org/how-greg-abbott-got-played-by-the-russians-during-his-jade-helm-freakout/

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s willingness to pander to the manic extremism broadcast through AM radio airwaves and streamed on the margins of YouTube apparently has him playing right into the hands of Russian disinformation campaigns.

At least that’s what former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden said on a “Morning Joe” podcast about the governor’s decision in 2015 to deploy the Texas State Guard to monitor federal troops.

Hayden said, “There was an exercise in Texas called Jade Helm 15 that Russian bots in the American alt-right media convinced most — many — Texans was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents.”

Abbott fell right into the trap, Hayden said, by legitimizing conspiracy theories with official state action. “At that point, I’m figuring the Russians are saying, ‘We can go big time,’ and at that point I think they said ‘We’re going to play in the electoral process.’”