加州参议员卡马拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)表示，俄罗斯在2016年美国总统选举中故意利用种族主义来扰乱民主进程。
这位2020年民主党总统候选人重申了她对种族是国家安全问题的信念，声称俄罗斯特别干涉美国选举，以此作为破坏该国“最强大的民主支柱”的手段
哈里斯说，俄罗斯在成功磨砺种族主义和长期种族分裂之前，尝试并失败了几项渗透和损害美国选举进程的策略。
俄罗斯领导的虚假信息运动提供了诸如“身份政治”这样的短语，哈里斯告诉全国广播公司新闻查克·托德上会见新闻界，以抹黑关于种族和分裂征服美国民主的真实对话。
“在这个选举问题上，这个长期的对手决定要在我们强大的地方攻击我们，”哈里斯周日早上说。“美国几乎无形的优势之一是，我们可以坚持自己是一个民主国家，尽管我们可能有缺陷，但它赋予我们走进房间，真正谈论人权、公民权利和自由概念的权力。”
哈里斯继续说，“所以他们决定，让我们抓住他们，让我们攻击他们，所以他们决定攻击民主最强大的支柱，那就是自由和公开选举。让我们让美国人互相攻击，什么会发热？他们尝试了一系列不同的东西，你知道是什么引起了轰动吗？种族问题。因此俄罗斯暴露了美国的致命弱点。”
哈里斯是参议院国土安全和情报委员会的成员，他说美国“非常容易受到网络威胁”，俄罗斯利用种族作为摧毁美国民主的手段向她证明了种族问题已经成为国家安全的威胁。
“突然间，你猜怎么着？对于那些想把关于种族和种族不平等的话题边缘化，说“哦，好吧，那是身份政治”或诸如此类的话的人，你猜怎么着？这现在也是一个国家安全问题。我们需要解决这个问题。”
她指出，早在特朗普当选之前，种族主义就是美国的一个问题，在他卸任后也是如此，但她补充说，美国人不能宽恕任何煽动种族分裂的领导人。她指责总统发动了一场“恐怖运动”，分裂了美国人，使他们以与俄罗斯人非常相似的策略互相恐惧。
哈里斯提出了一个官方的“网络理论”，指导立法者如何应对类似俄罗斯2016年选举行动的网络攻击。她嘲笑特朗普政府不允许联邦调查局、国家安全局、中央情报局或其他情报机构帮助保护未来的选举不受干涉。除了选举过程，她还补充说，支撑国家电网、医疗保健系统和金融机构的“关键”基础设施网络都是网络攻击的潜在目标。
“不管唐纳德·特朗普说什么，俄罗斯都干涉了美国总统的选举，”哈里斯告诉托德。“听听情报界——他们告诉你这是真的，因为这是真的。这是事实。”
她承认俄罗斯是否应对“国家支持的恐怖主义”负责是“有争议的”，但坚持认为俄罗斯领导层绝对支持对美国民主的攻击。
“毫无疑问，他们侵犯了人权，毫无疑问，他们是对手，毫无疑问，他们攻击了美国的民主。”
KAMALA HARRIS SAYS RUSSIA EXPLOITED RACIAL TENSIONS TO DISRUPT 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
California Senator Kamala Harris said Russia deliberately used racism to disrupt the democratic process in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful reiterated her belief that race is a national security issue, claiming Russia specifically meddled with the U.S. election as a means of undermining the country's "strongest pillar of democracy."
Harris said Russia tried and failed several strategies for infiltrating and compromising the U.S. election process before successfully honing in on racism and longstanding racial divisions.
Russian-led disinformation campaigns provided phrases such as "identity politics," Harris told NBC News' Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, in order to discredit real conversations about race and divide and conquer American democracy.
"On this election issue, this longstanding adversary decided that they wanted to attack us where we are strong," Harris said Sunday morning. "And one of the almost intangible strengths of America is we can hold ourselves out as a democracy, as flawed though we may be, it gives us the authority to walk in rooms and actually talk about human rights, talk about civil rights, talk about concepts of freedom. "
Harris continued, "So they decide, let's get at them, let's attack that, so they decide to attack the strongest pillar of democracy which is freedom and open elections. So let's get Americans going at each other, what's going to get heat? And they tried out a bunch of different things and you know what caught heat? The issue of race. So Russia exposed America's achilles heel."
Harris, who sits on Senate Homeland Security and Intelligence committees, said the U.S. is "very vulnerable to cyber threats" and that Russia's use of race as a way to dismantle American democracy proves to her that racial issues have become a national security threat.
"And all of a sudden, guess what? For those who want to marginalize the conversation about race and racial inequities and say 'oh well that's identity politics' or this and that -- guess what? It is now also a national security issue. And we need to deal with it."
She noted that racism was a problem in the U.S. long before Trump was elected and it will be after he is out of office, but added that Americans can't condone any leader who fans the fires of racial division. She accused the president of running a "campaign of terror" that is dividing Americans and making them fear each other in a tactic very similar to that of the Russians.
Harris proposed an official "cyber doctrine" that would guide lawmakers on how to respond to cyber attacks similar to the Russian 2016 election operations. She ridiculed the Trump administration for not allowing the FBI, NSA, CIA or other intelligence agencies to help protect future elections from interference. In addition to the election process, she added that "critical" infrastructure networks that hold up the country's power grid, health care system and financial institutions are all potential targets for cyber attacks.