PBS高端访谈:机密文件显示 俄罗斯智库干预美国大选

 　　There is news in the Russia file. New documents reveal plans for Russia to influence the U.S. presidential election. William Brangham has that report.

　　Reuters reported today that a think tank controlled by the Russian government outlined detailed¹ plans how to swing the 2016 U.S. election toward Donald Trump².

　　In two different papers, the think tank said Russia should use social media and Russian-backed media to bolster³ Trump and to undermine faith in America's electoral system.

　　For more on these developments, I'm joined now by Ned Parker — he's one of the reporters who broke the story — and by John Sipher.

　　He served 28 years in the CIA's clandestine⁴ service, stationed in Russia and Eastern Europe. He's now with the consulting firm CrossLead.

　　Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Ned Parker, I would like to start with you.

　　Can you tell us a little bit more? What is it that you found? What did you report today?

　　Right. Well, we found are that there are two documents drafted by an in-house policy shop for the Kremlin that reports back to President Vladimir Putin.

　　And this organization is also headed by former foreign intelligence service officers.

　　This organization called the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies drafted two reports last year, one in June and one in October.

　　The first in June talked about, how do you influence the U.S. electorate⁵ through a media and social media campaign to overturn the policies of then-President Obama and promote

　　persuade the U.S. public to chose a new U.S. administration that would promote policies beneficial to both Russia and the United States?

　　And, Ned, just staying with you for a second, is this evidence, is this in line with what U.S. intelligence agencies believe the Russians did, in fact, do during the election?

　　Right. I think that's the significance of these documents. They came in after the election.

　　The second document, which is from October, talked about how Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election, so it made sense to change tack⁶ in terms of propaganda,

　　and rather than work for her defeat and a new administration under Donald Trump, instead, they should push for a weak Clinton administration,

　　and to bring question about the integrity of the U.S. electoral process through different media and social media information packets.

　　Now, getting these two documents after the election, it sort of crystallized what the U.S. already knew about motive⁷ and intent, including the hacking⁸,

　　for instance, which there was forensics all over the place linking the hacking of the DNC and the Clinton campaign to Russia's military intelligence.

　　John Sipher, you worked in Russia. You worked against the Russians and with the Russians. Does this then conform to your understanding of how they operate?

　　Well, certainly, it does. And this institute was actually an internal part of the SVR, the former KGB.

　　This is not some separate think tank, like we would think of in the U.S.?

　　No, it was an internal sort of analytical⁹ unit, which then separated and tied itself to the presidential administration, headed by longtime-serving KGB officers.

　　In fact, the head of it now was in fact the head of the SVR, which is their external intelligence service.

　　Is this the kind of evidence, John Sipher, that gave U.S. intelligence agencies the confidence to say, we think Russia did meddle¹⁰ in the election?

　　I think this is another piece in that puzzle certainly. I don't think it's a big surprise.

　　President Putin hardly needed this group to tell him by June of 2016 that he should start trying to influence the election or to,

　　you know, find a candidate that was pro-Russian, when we already by that time, all of us sort of knew that.

　　However, I think the — I do think this is part and parcel of a longer effort that we see now in Europe.

　　So, the Russians are now trying to influence elections in Germany and Russia and in Bulgaria.

　　And, in fact, Mr. Reshetnikov, who ran this institute, is tied to possible efforts to assassinate¹¹ the Montenegrin prime minister in Montenegro.

　　And that may be, in fact, why he lost his job in January.

　　Ned Parker, in these two documents, as you have discovered them,

　　was there any mention of WikiLeaks or the computer hacking that intelligence agencies also believe the Russians were involved in?

　　No, there is no mention of WikiLeaks or the hacking, but I think you have to see these as they were described to myself and my colleagues,

　　John Walcott and Jon Landay. They were described as part and parcel of a campaign.

　　So, the Kremlin is a very top-down, authoritarian¹² culture. So when these documents passed around, they only reinforced what everyone knew to do.

　　So, when you actually started to see the WikiLeaks dumps happening, the Russian-affiliated media outlets¹³, like U.S

　　like Russia Today and Sputnik and the troll factories outside of St. Petersburg that pump news out on Twitter and other outlets on the Internet,

　　they were able to amplify¹⁴ the voice and the reach of the hacked¹⁵, stolen materials from the Clinton campaign and DNC.

　　So, they reinforced each other.

　　John Sipher, is it really that easy for the Russian government to say, you three news agencies,

　　start pumping out stories that are anti-Clinton or pro-Trump? Is that — does it work that obviously?

　　It's funny because, in my time in government, especially in the last years,

　　we often talked about an all-of-government approach, so, if we're going into Afghanistan, all of our agencies and institutes had to work together.

　　We have never been quite as good at it as the Russians, because that's a centralized state.

　　And the intelligence services, from which Mr. Putin came, were the central sword and shield of the government.

　　And, therefore, yes, they do a very good job of a coordinated¹⁶ approach to use diplomatic, intelligence, military and political power as one.

　　So, I'm not surprised at all by this.

　　Ned, you heard John mention earlier that the concern obviously is that the Russians, they did it to us back in 2016.

　　We have elections coming up in France and elsewhere in Europe.

　　Did the intelligence officials that you talked with for this reporting,

　　did they give you any sense that they believe that the Russians are going to be involved in those elections as well?

　　I think that's sort of — it's an open secret. Right?

　　You look at France, and Marine¹⁷ Le Pen makes no secret of her affection for Russia. So, I think that's seen as part and parcel for the course.

　　John Sipher, one last question before you go.

　　I understanding there is — there's also reporting about a mole¹⁸ hunt that is going on within the CIA right now.

　　From your time in the CIA, what can you tell us about that?

　　Yes, that's unfortunate. Any organization or enterprise has to worry about the insider threat and this type of thing happening, to include the CIA.

　　In my time in government, I have seen, and we have caught spies, like Aldrich Ames and Hanssen at the FBI.

　　Almost always in that case, it is an intelligence source of ours that lead us to find out who that person is.

　　So, I wish them the best of luck in figuring this out, and hopefully they can find out who it is before too long, certainly.

　　All right, John Sipher, Ned Parker of Reuters, thank you both very much for being here. Thanks. undefined

1 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

4 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

5 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

6 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

7 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

8 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

9 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。

10 meddle   

v.干预，干涉，插手

参考例句：

• I hope he doesn't try to meddle in my affairs.我希望他不来干预我的事情。
• Do not meddle in things that do not concern you.别参与和自己无关的事。

11 assassinate   

vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤

参考例句：

• The police exposed a criminal plot to assassinate the president.警方侦破了一个行刺总统的阴谋。
• A plot to assassinate the banker has been uncovered by the police.暗杀银行家的密谋被警方侦破了。

12 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

13 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

15 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

16 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

17 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

18 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。