Render: Putin could have dirt on Clinton

There are two cyber security issues in the headlines today, both of which can leave thoughtful citizens scratching their heads.

A U.S. magistrate has ordered Apple Corp. to assist the FBI in gaining access to information in the employer provided iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

Rube Render

The FBI is seeking any information that can help in its investigation into the December shootings in which 14 people died.

Apple is reluctant to provide the assistance based on privacy concerns. The FBI has been unable to access any information on Farook’s phone.

I believe all responsible corporations should do everything in their power to find a way to assist law enforcement agencies in the pursuit of terrorists.

By the way, Farook’s employer was the County of San Bernardino.

Conversely, when government agencies do have assistance from the cyber community in security matters there seems to be a curious lack of interest in the story.

In a Feb. 12 “Forbes” opinion piece by Paul Roderick Gregory, he reviews the timeline associated with the Hillary Clinton server scandal. As far back as March of 2013, a Romanian hacker called “Guccifer” distributed emails he intercepted from Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal that related to Libya and Benghazi. The hacking of Blumenthal’s emails led to the private server used by Hillary Clinton.

Two years later, in May of 2015, the full scandal erupted.

Guccifer’s hacked emails were published by a Russian TV network, funded by the government, called Russia Today, or RT. Russia Today is generally considered to be a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. If the propaganda arm of the Russian government published the Benghazi emails, the Kremlin’s cyber warfare army quite probably has the entire Clinton email cache, including the almost 32,000 private emails not made available.

A Kremlin capture of Clinton’s private e-mail account would give it a complete record of her secretary of state correspondence.

Vladimir Putin is a former KGB agent who cut his teeth using embarrassing or compromising information as leverage to pressure intelligence operatives and politicians, and he would be well aware of the best time and place to publish information of this kind.

We have all assumed that Barack Obama, with his control of the Justice Department, would determine whether or not Clinton’s run for the White House could be thwarted. Is it possible that Vladimir Putin with his access to the Clinton emails also controls the path to the presidency?

Full disclosure: I am not a conspiracy theorist.

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at:

[email protected]