I love it when Malcolm Nance is invited onto the news shows I watch to analyze and explain what's going on with national security. While what I hear isn't comforting in the least, I can't help but feel that with guys like Nance looking out for this country, we might just survive the next few years.

The book was written before the election happened, which means that our security agencies were aware of Russian intentions, and actions, well before Trump became POTUS. Yes, that means there were missteps, it means we were woefully unprepared for what they ultimately did to us, and thanks to the outcome of the election, we remain unprepared.

Why Trump? Nance explains it early on:

"The Russian spy agency had been ordered to make a bold move, hack the American elections, and engage in political warfare to elect Donald Trump President. Whether he knew it or not, Trump was the perfect candidate for a political asset. Former KGB officer Yuri Bezmenov said the KGB targeted “Ego-centric people who lack moral principles—who are either too greedy or who suffer from exaggerated self-importance. These are the people the KGB wants and finds easiest to recruit.”

Trump, and many of the people surrounding him, became useful idiots to the Russians, and remain so. The endgame for them is to become the dominant power on the planet, and to do that, the U.S. needs to have its economy and standing in the world crippled. They found all the right people to do that.

Some of this book is relatively technical. The discussions of the cyber incursions tended to lose me in a flurry of acronyms and code names in spite of understanding the basics behind hacking and cyber espionage. Even though I was listening to this as an audiobook, there were points where I found myself hopelessly muddled. But those were the exceptions rather than the rule. For the most part, the book is clear and concise, and it sounds a warning that something must be done or the Russians will steal more elections and help to elect more of Putin's puppets.

We don't have to be leader of the free world. I could happily leave that honor to Germany, where it currently resides. But we need a viable economy in order to survive, and I, for one, resent that one man and his endless tweets can make the rest of us look like complete idiots, or that the bigots, increasingly emboldened by his own bigotry, can make us all look like ignorant, intolerant yahoos by association. This country is better than that. We can't allow the Russians to define us.

Nance's information is not guesswork, it is fact. If you want a clear idea of how long this has been in the works, and how it took place, read this book. ( )

I borrowed this book from the county library. The author, Malcolm Nance, often appears on MSNBC. I read some of the positive reviews on Amazon before writing this short comment. I thought the book was difficult to read, rather disjointed. It seemed poorly organized. There were numerous typos indicating a possible lack of professional editing. I think the letters "DNC" were used for both: The Democratic National Convention and the Democratic National Committee. The author used extensive footnotes throughout the book which would allow the reader to read more about the quotes in the book. The book is clearly a wakeup call to the dangers of the Internet and cyber warfare to our national security. ( )

Essentially a detailed look the 2016 election, Russia's cyber attacks on countries, and Donald Trump. If someone paid very close attention to the news, there is little that is new. It is a very good and detailed summary of the events though. It also goes through the history of American politics, Russian politics, and key figures. Malcolm paints a pretty damning picture on how Russia sabotaged the election and essentially made Trump an unknowingly sock puppet. Whether it is all true or his interpretations are accurate is unclear, but overall it was good to get the information and even though the election is over it may be important to know for near future events. ( )

This is the ultimate spy drama in real life. The author makes an excellent case as to why the Russians would target a man like Donald Trump – he is susceptible to being manipulated by flattery, women and money – all of the favored methods of the KGB. The author also provides an excellent discussion on the specifics as to how the DNC and specific people were hacked and why – Putin’s historical hatred for Clinton provided the motivation. How and why Trump keeps claiming that Russia was not part of the 2016 election as well as its results is troubling, especially after reading this book. ( )

I decided to pick this up after hearing Malcolm Nance just about everywhere. The story is amazing and frightening but it is better when Nance is speaking. The presentation in the book is more scattershot and harder to follow. Details are repeated from chapter to chapter that makes me wonder if this was put together from other articles. However, it was worth the read, even if events have moved further on since this was published.