Rigged: America, Russia and 100 Years of Covert Electoral Interference

by David Shimer

"This pioneering and judicious history of foreign intervention in elections should be read by everyone who wants to defend democracy now." --Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

The definitive account of covert operations to influence elections from the Cold War to 2016, why the threat to American democracy is greater than ever in 2020, and what we can do about it.

Russia's interference in 2016 marked only the latest chapter of a hidden and revelatory history. In Rigged, David Shimer tells the sweeping story of covert electoral interference past and present. He exposes decades of secret operations--by the KGB, the CIA, and Vladimir Putin's Russia--to shape electoral outcomes, melding deep historical research with groundbreaking interviews with more than 130 key players, from leading officials in both the Trump and Obama administrations, to CIA and NSA directors, to a former KGB general.
What Americans should make of Russia's attack in 2016 is still hotly debated, even after the Mueller report and years of media coverage. Shimer shows that Putin's operation was, in fact, a continuation of an ongoing struggle, using familiar weapons radically enhanced by new technology. Throughout history and in 2016, both Russian and American operations achieved their greatest success by influencing the way voters think, rather than tampering with actual vote tallies.
Casting aside partisanship and sensationalism, Rigged reveals new details about what Russia achieved in 2016, how the Obama administration responded, and why Putin has also been interfering covertly in elections across the globe in recent years, while American presidents have largely refrained from doing so. Shimer also makes disturbingly clear that this type of intrusion can be used to harm Democrats and Republicans alike. Russia's central aim is to undermine and disrupt our democracy, to the detriment of all Americans.
Understanding 2016 as one battle in a much longer war is essential to understanding the critical threat currently posed to America's electoral sovereignty and how to defend against it. Illuminating how the lessons of the past can be used to protect our democracy in the future, Rigged is an essential book for readers of every political persuasion.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Russia, Audiobook, Espionage, International Relations

385 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2020

Reviews

[Diogenes Grief · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Pillars of American democracy have decayed. Local media is in crisis. Since 2004, nearly two thousand community newspapers have gone out of business or merged; many more have been hollowed out. This trend has critical implications for foreign interference: As America’s media environment becomes increasingly national, the news becomes easier to manipulate. Mainstream outlets devote resources to chasing sensational tweets and document dumps, while citizens look to social media, in part, for local news. Meanwhile, public schools offer either limited or no instruction on how to be an informed citizen in a digital democracy. ‘The critical factor in the Constitution to make this work is an informed electorate. We have a misinformed, uninformed electorate these days. An informed electorate: That should be on our tombstone. Where is the informed electorate?’ Demanded Porter Goss, the former CIA director. David Cohen, the former CIA deputy director, likewise said, ‘We don’t have as well-informed a citizenry as we ought to have, so people are more susceptible, you have less critical-thinking skills, they’re just more susceptible to basically buying bullshit’” (p. 246).

Shimmer offers some deeply penetrating insight into the grand chess game between Russia and the United States over the last 100 years. Sure, the Soviet Union imploded, but the autocratic plutocracy that remains currently has the last laugh as the US is now the joke of the world with a demented narcissist damaging the nation beyond repair. This book is only focused on cyber espionage and election meddling. Shimmer does not go into other aspects of social media, propaganda-spinning and disinformation-churning news networks, the basement-dwelling crud of 4chan/8chan/8kun, the rogue players within the Electoral College system, nor how the survivors in the GOP went morally bankrupt in the aftermath of 2016 simply to fatten their wallets with taxpayer dollars.

The US wasn’t the first to succumb to such cyber campaigns, and he shows how Ukraine, Montenegro, (the nation of) Georgia , France and the U.K. all dealt with similar onslaughts.

I do like how Shimer notes that proper education could solve our problems. If only. It is true that our education system fails so many kids, and so many citizens do not or cannot pursue higher education. Education for all would certainly help our nation overcome a lot, but so would mandatory civic service requirements. However, what should also be noted is how the internet has no regulation or oversight. THIS, to me, is the crucial facet of the whole situation. Hiding behind the First Amendment to rant whatever lies one wants is unraveling this republic. Second to that is our lousy, muddled election process itself. We have no secure, simple, and uniform way of voting. Why is this? The answers are enraging, never mind all the gerrymandering, voter-suppression laws, dark money and super PACs, Citizens United, generalized antipathy (as well as apathy), and yeah—you guessed it—disinformation.

The Faustian bargain the Obama administration faced with the overwhelming evidence of Russian hacking back in 2016 is shown in great detail, and it’s tough to take a side even now. It is truly a “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” scenario. No one expected so many undereducated and easily gullible citizens to vote for a soulless and babbling TV star with a long history of misogyny, racism, divorces, bankruptcies, shady dealings, bogus businesses, and bad hair. Russia had many irons in the fire, taunted the US intelligence services with what could have been a perfect feint, then masterfully conducted a complex and widespread PSYOP campaign throughout social media, which was then picked by news networks and politicians to magnify their importance. Now some research has claimed the Russian propaganda campaign did little, while Shimer believes it did much more than that. There’s really no way to know how any individual has been swayed by what they see, read, or experience without some deep introspection and honesty. I cannot imagine a Trump supporter, mimicking their sociopath leader for the past four years, suddenly having a moment of clarity and wondering what damage they’ve done. The brilliant ads of the Lincoln Project show them at face value just what they’ve done. Will it matter? Time will tell. However, the seeds of dissent to any outcome are already planted. Truth is questioned at every utterance, legitimate journalism disavowed for tactical convenience, violence beckoned to the mobs with a Cheshire grin. All it takes is the equivalence of a school kid yelling “nuh-uh” to have a mindless mob in tactical gear nod in agreement.

The fact that so many high-ranking politicians and officials on both sides of the political coin declined to be interviewed for this book and topic seems powerful. Everyone wishes to deny their actions or inactions regarding Russian “covert electoral interference” in support of Trump. Putin had a historical axe to grind against the US, and against Clinton specifically, and against “democracies” in general. The rise of Trump was Putin’s wet dream come true for a US candidate, and I have no doubt the Russian intelligence agencies have a big fat file on Trump, holding it like the Sword of Damocles over him, while Trump flails his wrecking ball over the rest of us. “The more divided a democracy, the more fragile it becomes, and the less able it is to defend itself” (p. 246). Trump and his plutocrats know this deep within their black hearts. They desire chaos, and they use the uninformed as their cannon fodder.

None of this bodes well for the republic, but Shimer goes on to say:

“Covert electoral interference, once a weapon of superpowers, is becoming a weapon of authoritarians. All democracies are vulnerable.

But none of this means that the democratic model is doomed. The arcs underlying this history are timeless: open against closed, freedom against subjugation, inclusion against exclusion. Perhaps Putin and like-minded leaders will maintain control over the coming digital storm, or perhaps a tidal wave will catch them by surprise as citizens develop new ways to use online tools to start protests, organize mass movements, and stage revolutions.

In the age-old competition between autocrats and democrats, Russia won the latest battle, in 2016. What comes next is as yet unwritten” (p. 267).

We will not get an informed citizenry in time—that will take generations, and a massive restructuring of priorities. We will not get a simple, secure, and universal voting system in place—the powers that be don’t want that. We will not get social media and news outlets legitimately policed, or at the very least universally fact-checked by AI or whatever, in time—the powers that be don’t want that either. Russia and others are still deeply involved in promoting propaganda and disinformation, stoking the fires of division, and fomenting rage. I don’t think it will end until the United States is totally neutered on the world stage, with Russia and China as the new superpowers.

[Julie Locascio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding deep dive on the history of American/Russian rivalry to "win" hearts, minds and votes for the past hundred years. With a Latin American studies minor in college, I was well-versed on CIA interference (sometimes bloody) south of the border to counter Russian influence. I also had a good historical grounding on Cold War history in general, but this book (full of extremely knowledgeable sources) provides an impressive amount of detail while also placing it in the larger context of how each side viewed its goals and operations. With another Putin foe poisoned and another Putin ally stealing an election (in Belarus) this week (August 2020), I am glad that more members of our intelligence community, as well as former members of Russia's, have put more information on record. My big takeaway from the book is that the intelligence community has done the public a disservice by not broadcasting Russian operations. For instance, I had no idea that Russia was forging KKK documents to provoke and stoke racial animosity in the U.S. DECADES ago! Like many Americans, I thought (and still think) it was absurd and tragic that American soldiers were killing and dying in Vietnam to "stop the communists", and yet I was not taught to fear what the KGB was actually doing to tear us apart at home. And like many Americans, I thought the Cold War ended decades ago, only to discover with horror that Russia had never stopped and, in fact, had super-charged their activities through fake social media accounts provoking conspiracy theories, distrust, and divisiveness about our government and controversial topics, like vaccines. Who knew that Russians tried to scare us to death about ebola? Well, the intelligence community did, but since they jealously guard their "statecraft", they left most of us unable to defend ourselves. Only with the shocking defeat of Hillary Rodham Clinton did we learn how manipulated many voters had been online. This book gives the deep dive needed to understand everything that led to that moment, as well as a comprehensive view of where we are at now.

[Bettie]

-- David Shimer: John Brennan, in my book “Rigged,” told me that Russian hackers had the ability to alter the voter data & vote tallies of U.S. citizens on Election Day 2016. The next COVID relief bill should include major funding and cyber security requirements for election administration.
-- Jennifer Cohn: Wait, what?! John Brennan told davidashimer, the author of Rigged, that Russians were in a position to alter VOTE TALLIES in 2016 too?! By “too,” I mean in addition to voter data. To be clear, I’m not surprised Russians were in a position to do this. I am surprised that John Brennan acknowledged it.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference - David Shimer

An eye opening account of how the CIA and KGB interfered in elections across the globe throughout the Cold War, and how the processes and measures developed then are still employed today.

In his book, Shimer sets out the origins of covert electoral interference and shows us how this is not a new phenomenon that came into being in 2016 when the Russians interfered in the US election. Shimer covers how the CIA interfered in elections in places such as in Italy 1948 and Chile throughout the 1960s/70s. Shimer also looks at the work of the KGB and how they too tried to influence elections and corrupt elected officials in places like West German and even in the United States where they tried to undertake operations against people such as Richard Nixon during the Cold War.

Shimer uses this historical context to illustrate how what occurred in the US 2016 Presidential Election was not new. What happened in 2016 is part of a well practiced and exercised strategy. This strategy has become much more advanced now however with the advent of social media and improvements in technology. Whereas in the Cold War the CIA would have had to distribute thousands of flyers or influence radio stations as they did in Italy or the KGB would have to bribe parliamentarians to vote a certain way as they did in West Germany in a Vote of No Confidence in 1972 against then Chancellor Willy Brandt, now with social media voters can now be targeted en masse. No longer does it have to be either a broad non specific campaign or a limited targeted one, now it can a culmination of the two - a massive, targeted effort.

Whilst the methods may have changed the goals have not. There tends to be three main objectives - first to promote one favoured candidate over another, second is to change the minds of voters/or votes themselves if possible, and third is to sow discord and create divisions. This last one is often the most important. Additional goals include raising questions of the legitimacy of elections too, casting doubt over the democratic process itself is a central aim of authoritarian figures who seek centralise power in themselves and excuse their own behaviour.

Shimer sets out in alarming and worrying detail the scale of the problem that open democratic societies face. Whereas the KGB no longer exists bodies such as the GRU, Russian military intelligence, have taken their place. The main noteworthy body however is the Internet Research Agency or IRA. This organisation, owned by a close oligarch friend of Putin’s and based in St Petersburg, was the main tool in Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

The IRA is estimated to have reached 126 million Americans on Facebook alone, with an additional 72 million engagements on Twitter, and some 1,100 YouTube videos across 17 channels all spreading disinformation and aiming to divide society across multiple grounds - class, race, sexuality, religion, politics etc by playing on voters preconceived views and biases.

The main goal of the Russian operation was, of course, to sow division and to elect Donald Trump as President over Hilary Clinton, not to manipulate actual votes which, for a range of reasons, was not done. This operation ranged in its scope, fake pages were set up to tailor to certain parts of/ views in the US. IRA pages such as “Being Patriotic” and “Stop All Invaders” were set up on Facebook generating 6.3 million likes and 773,305 comments respectively, to appeal to right wing Americans. These pages had the aim of denigrating the then candidate, Hillary Clinton, and promoting the image of Donald Trump by playing on these voters pre existing prejudices. Examples of this include accusing Clinton of going to revoke free speech and when Clinton stumbled getting into a car, scores of IRA accounts quickly started hashtags like #ClintonCollapse and #SickHillary, so as to raise questions about her health.

Alternatively, the IRA set up left wing sites and pages too such as an Instagram account called “Woke Blacks”. From this angle the IRA churned out messages and posts encouraging voters to stay at home or vote for the third party candidate and not for Clinton, acts which would have made the election of Trump an easier task. Other efforts were made at voter suppression of the American left too. Supposedly left wing IRA ran accounts put out messages telling their followers if they supported Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primaries they are not allowed to vote Clinton in the general election.

Shimer also details how the IRA also moved away from the online world and into real one and would organise pro-Trump rallies and then subsequently organise counter-rallies in the hope of violence between the two groups. This again plays into the operation’s goal of dividing the society and looking at the US over the last few years with events such as Charlottesville and riots and violence and shootings, it would be hard for one to argue that the Russians did not achieve this objective of sowing discord, dividing communities, and enflaming tensions in addition to them achieving their goal of tarnishing Clinton resulting in the election of Trump.

This book also sets out the somewhat haphazard and poorly coordinated response from the Obama administration to covert electoral interference by Russia. Former White House and intelligence officials from the time, interviewed for the book, speak of the mistakes they made and how they dropped the ball. Officials in government at the time were so focused on preventing actual votes from being changed or tampered with they did not concern themselves with the wider Russian campaign to change voter’s minds via social media and propaganda.

Whilst many of the problems the US faced with issues such as race, inequality, political division etc clearly existed long before Russia’s interference operation, it is evident that they found a way to successfully exploit these divisions and enhance them. As technology and social media advances it is apparent that the problem of electoral interference is not going to go away, in fact it is only just beginning. In the future, it does not have to be Russia or a different foreign state that can create and disseminate disinformation online to influence an election, now political parties, organisations, groups, or individuals can all do it now with ease due to the interconnected world we now live in.

Shimer does a great job of setting out the history of covert electoral interference, the interference that took place in 2016 - which he details extraordinarily, and how interference is used in today’s world. The book raises some of the key issues that we will be facing going forward for many years to come, issues which everyone who lives in an open, democratic society should be well aware of.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shimer's overview of electoral interference prior to 2016 is somewhat cursory and lacking in critical analysis. The CIA activities in Italy and Chile are covered along with a very brief review of some Soviet efforts in American elections. The history seems to be intended to prepare the reader for the Russian efforts in 2016.

The meat of the book is the 2016 US election. Here, Shimer offers a fairly vanilla summary of the publicly known information regarding Russian interference.

Thanks to extensive interviews with various members of the Obama Administration, there is some good information about the internal debates about whether/how to respond. Shimer offers a lot of direct quotes from key participants in the American government. These insights are interesting, but plagued by inside politics, self-serving claims, and dubious conclusions. I was frustrated by what I perceived as Shimer's passive acceptance of the claims of various participants. I longed for him to shine a bright light on the various statements/claims and drive a more active, critical analysis.

It seems clear that a lot of information remains classified surrounding Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and this book serves as an adequate introduction to these events. Unfortunately, it does not attempt provide a detailed investigation nor does it offer any particularly new or startling information.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not a fun book to read. In fact, it was quite disturbing! Well written and researched, Shimer (as the title suggests) gives a history of both the CIA’s and the KGB’s attempts to influence elections throughout the world in the past. But what is most disturbing is what Russia, under the leadership of former KGB officer, Vladimir Putin, is now doing, not only to influence U.S. elections, but to destabilize the nation in myriad ways, using the new, cheap, and nearly unlimited resource of the internet and social media. Anything they can do to heighten unrest or foment race or class angst and discontent, the Russians are doing it! Just this morning on BBC news, I heard that a report was delivered yesterday to the British parliament decrying Russian interference in British elections. This is a real problem. Fascinating, but disturbing! 3.5 stars.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed, well-researched examination of election interference by both Russia and the US in numerous countries through the Cold War, culminating in a close look at the 2016 US presidential election in that wider context. A very interesting read, never mind that I was familiar at least in broad strokes with all the cases discussed.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting! Super impressed by diversity of interviews and definitely convinced of the main arguments. Glad I read this

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would Trump have been elected without the help of Vladimir Putin? Should something have been done to prevent Russian election interference? Could anything have been done? These are questions Shimer explores in this book. But he also puts these events in the context of electoral interference that is not confined to Russia, and which has been going on for decades. The tools and techniques he describes, however, are increasingly more sophisticated, increasingly harder to identify; and, as he points out, it has become increasingly hard to defend against them.

This is not a book based on partisanship but on thorough historical research, including frank interviews with more than 130 key players, from leading officials in both the Trump and Obama administrations, to CIA and NSA directors, and even a former KGB general. In exposing the threats to the electoral process, Shimer helps us to understand what is necessary going forward. His interest is in democracy, and how to safeguard it.

[Gretchen Hohmeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The front half of this served more of a listing rather than an exploration of stuff I already knew, but perhaps it might be enlightening in a concise way to others. The second half (about 2016) was of far more interest and focused on what happened but also the failures of both the Obama and Trump administrations to respond. Shimer ends the book by talking about how this one issue has astronomically far reaching consequences. I wasn't sure I was going to finish this at first, but the last part made it worth it.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well researched and very interesting regarding governments and the rigging of elections.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explores the history and context of the U.S. and Russia meddling in each other's (or other countries') elections, and why it was a big deal in the 2016 U.S. presidential election despite being far from the first time this has been attempted. I personally found the historical section (part 1) more interesting in general than the 2016 election section (part 2), possibly because the historical section involves mostly events that have been declassified including interviews with key former CIA and KGB officials, whereas understanding the 2016 election still involves a lot of guesswork. If you already know the history though or followed the coverage of the 2016 electoral interference very closely, you probably won't get as much out of this book, but I found it well-written and well-contextualized, including a few reflections by the author at the start and end that tie everything together.

I do think the title "Rigged" was an unfortunate choice, and not just because that claim has now also been made by many about the 2020 election, in what are mostly entirely unrelated aspects. As the author himself explains in the book, the 2016 election was not "rigged" per se, and nor were the other instances of electoral interference that he describes, with a few very minor exceptions. Although the fear of foreign actors "rigging" elections by hacking and tampering with vote counts is what election security experts in the U.S. had been most worried about leading up to 2016, neither the CIA nor the KGB / FSB has seriously attempted that strategy, and both have instead opted for propaganda or social engineering, a strategy which Russia took to its next logical level in the 2016 presidential election with its targeted advertising and disinformation spread on social media. This is a serious issue, as the author argues in the book, but this is far different the situations the term "rigged" usually refers to.

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book.

First thing first, I picked it up this book based on a recommendation from a colleague, and with the 2020 election around the corner, I thought it’d be a good time to learn more about the chaos that was the 2016 presidential election. And this book did not disappoint.

For starter, the book is about covert election interferences throughout the modern history. Unlike our national discourse on the 2016 election, this book successfully accomplished one thing: objectivity. This book covered election interferences from the Russians, as well as from the American side. For the American side, this book covered elections in Italy and Chile, and for the Russian side, it covered West Germany, and, yes, the American election in 2016 (in painful details, too, I might add). The author managed to do this without coming across as biased, focusing strictly on the fact, and just simply telling the readers what happened, how it happened, and what can be done about it.

The second thing I really liked about this book is that the author managed to secure many powerful figures to speak on record. There are comments from the Clintons, cabinet secretaries, high ranking officials as well as Silicon Valley insiders that can speak authoritatively on the matter. There are even a few Russians on the record talking about their operations.

The last thing I really enjoyed about this book is the author’s writing style. He managed to take something that’s pretty mundane (for a lot of people) and made it into something that’s enjoyable while reading it. The way he conveyed the information here is clear, concise, and captivating. It’s no small feat considering the topic.

Overall, I gave this book a 5* and highly recommend it to those that are interested.

[Casper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very balanced, well-researched and structured read. Really enjoyed the wide range of first-hand sources interviewed. Focused more on the 2016 US election interference and historical context for it than forming an overly detailed history per se (thankfully). Reads very well in combination with How to Lose the Information War and Putin's People. The conclusions are comparable: strengthening democracy begins with addressing division at home and a willingness to hold country over any perceived political benefits derived from (conducting or allowing) foreign electoral interference

[Peter McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and incredibly well structured/organized. A vast number of excellent interviews with a wide variety of high ranking officials, "in the know."

Shimer presents a history of electoral interference by the US and Russia in the first half and then provides a comprehensive breakdown of how Russia applied a decades-old strategy to the modern tools of social media. A very balanced critique of the Obama administration's "shortcomings" (epic failure) in their response.

As we are in the thick of the 2020 election cycle, this book is required reading. Much of the preparations that were done from a "worst case scenario" perspective can still apply to 2020. In fact, I argue, they're more important than ever. The country is more divided and the chance for violence in the streets as a predicator for an all-out civil war is more likely than ever and not in some "alarmist" circle. Not wanting something to be true is not evidence of its falsehood.

5/5. Required reading.

[0352475 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading! Shimer reviews a history of electoral interference, from the USA and Russia/Soviet Union. The book helps you clearly see how the internetization changed the espionage technics that nowadays superpowers especially Russia perceive as a vital tool for changing the political landscape in foreign countries.

[Luca Trenta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book with great expectations, mostly based on the amount of press/social media coverage it received and on the 'blurbs' on the cover. However, I found the book somewhat disappointing. It seems to me, the book is trying to do too many things and, hence, often does not have the space to do them properly.

The first part of the book provides interesting case studies of (attempted and successful) electoral interference. The level of detail provided is somewhat mixed. I found the Chapter of Stasi interference particularly interesting, the one on the CIA in Italy less so. This, however, might also have to do with the fact that I know more about the latter. The chapters on the 1990s provide a good overview of the situation in Russia and of the plethora of US activities in favour of their preferred candidate. Here, however, very different activities are conflated under the same category in spite of being both conceptually and (perhaps) morally different. Dov Levin's books on the same topic provides a more focused and conceptually stronger argument.

The second part of the book provides a discussion of the electoral interference surrounding the 2016 elections. Here, of course, the recent nature of events does not permit a deep historical dive. Yet, the author manages to have exceptional access to current and former policymakers. It is for this reason that the book is somewhat disappointing. In spite of that access, the account of the 2016 elections does not seem (at least to me) to unearth any new element or to provide much in terms of new information.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rigged isn’t a simple rehash of the 2016 IRA campaign in which the Russians attempted to turn the tide of the election on their own initiative and in some level of cahoots with the Trump campaign. It’s an even-handed account of what’s known of their activity in the lead up to the election. But it’s more than that as the first half of the book is background on historical election interference; namely that of the US into elections in Italy, Chile and Germany earlier in the 20th century and how they squared off with Russia in those cases to attempt to sway the electorate. This section alone is quite interesting.

The second half of the book shows how Russia developed its foreign election interference assets and a bit of history on the US-Russian relations during their own elections mainly during the Clinton era. Finally we get into the ’16 election and relive that event as it related to the IRA operation – it’s amazing how close the US government almost came to issuing formal censure – they even had Paul Ryan on board but everything was scuttled by Moscow Mitch. He rounds this off with a list of well thought out recommendations which of course would never be implemented with the current administration, and also wouldn’t be implemented under a Democratic admin either as neither party would be willing to give up interference in other countries election processes.

[DK Simoneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook review: Let me start with the end. The author rightfully suggests that public education would go a long way to fixing these problems. He uses Finland as one example. (They seem to be the leader in education on so many topics) I am calling for a #PublicEducationRenaissance. That aside , who received my entire education public ally, was (again) surprised at how much of our history I did not know. I did not know of the US involvement in cover election disruption. This book so thoroughly lays about exactly what rigging elections is all about, overtly and covertly. It also explains in great detail the awful predicament the Obama administration faced. It explains how Russia has been involved in our elections for many years. It explains the psychological manipulation and the actual vote manipulation. If you have any interest whatsoever in what is happening in our democracy I highly recommend this book. It is well researched. And it is clearly explained. Perhaps it should be required reading for all high school history students. Certainly on a list of chosen books (there are so many topics we need our young adults to understand) to do a book report on. Very well done.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good book that explores the ways the US and Russia have interfered in democratic elections with a long exploration of the 2016 election. Shimer does a great job not falling into the trap of "Hey the US does it too," but instead explores how the US has done it (and why) vs how Russia has done it (and why). He got insights from former intelligence heads in Russia/USSR and the US and also talked to some presidents and cabinet members. A deep dive on a narrow topic.

[Tamara Harpster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good history of covert operations to influence elections in the last 100 years. Includes US and Soviet operations, with a section for operations occurring in the present day. A good read for anyone interested in more information on the 2016 election and world wide elections

[Joanne Annabannabobanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The internet empowers foreign adversaries. And Trump has done nothing in four years to recognize the threat. Depressing.

[Pat Loughery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is powerful, engaging, incredibly well researched and scary. If you've read the blurbs, you know the thesis: It's a look at the US and Russia's engagement in covert electoral interference around the world, and then focuses on the Russian activity in the 2016 US Presidential election. Finally, it lays out the risks that still remain in the 2020 system and proposes the changes that are needed to secure the American electoral process, while also reminding us that competitive elections are never totally secure.

For people who don't believe that Russia interfered with American elections in 2016, this is a helpful read. The story is not partisan, but matter-of-fact, and the 90 pages of notes and references from the author's interviews with 26 former Obama administration officials, former Stasi officials, State Dept officials, CIA and FBI officials.. the list goes on. As the Mueller Report identified, clearly the Russian state meddled with the US elections, and specifically chose to support the Trump candidacy, but this book like Mueller makes no claims that Trump was personally directing any of this. Rather, Putin saw a Trump candidacy which was run as a chaos candidacy as a way to destabilize American society.

David Shimer proposes four core arguments:
1. "The story of electoral interference is, above all, a story of Washington and Moscow." It's an extension of the Cold War, with ebbs and flows in priority and interest. But with Putin's rise, the Russian interest in electoral interference is profound. Meanwhile, the US has reduced (it may say stopped, but..) its electoral interference since 1991, and after 9/11/2001, American intelligence has focused on counterterrorism and lost focus on Russian electoral spywork.

2. American operations to interfere in elections are comparable to Russian efforts but not identical. Both systems have supported friendly candidates and targeted unfriendly candidates. American interference has intended (though perhaps not succeeded) to strengthen foreign democracies. The Russian approach to covert electoral interference has also been to destabilize democracies in order to prove internally that democracy is an untenable governing philosophy.

3. "Russian interference in the 2016 election marked a direct continuation of old ideas... continuing two forms: changing ballots and changing minds." Digital access has allowed for broader reach and access.

4. Even more so, "the digital age has irrevocably enhanced the weapon of covert electoral interference." Where person-to-person covert interference had a high cost with high risk and moderate reward, digital interference is low-cost, high-reward. And because the Obama administration chose not to counteract Putin's interference before the 2016 election and Trump has openly courted it, there is minimal risk to ongoing Russian interference, while the US has taken a defensive role in some sectors.

I think every US citizen interested in politics, spycraft, electioneering, Russia and Putin should read this in order to understand why the system has become as frail as it is, and to look ahead to what will clearly be a bump 2020 election and beyond.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and even-handed account of how America and Russia / the Soviet Union have each played a role in other countries' elections -- sometimes openly and sometimes not -- from the end of World War I through today. This is a deep dive, drawing on author David Shimer's interviews with over a hundred politicians, staffers, journalists, and intelligence operatives from around the globe, some as high-profile as Bill and Hillary Clinton or Steve Bannon. It explains the notorious interference in 2016 on Donald Trump's behalf without sensationalizing or asserting unproven collusion with his campaign, while also contextualizing a century of history that led to that affair.

In the writer's analysis, the two superpowers have both supported candidates abroad that they see as aligned with their own interests, but America has either largely or entirely moved away from that practice in recent decades, when their counterpart patently has not. The U.S. also tends to interfere in favor of free and open democracy as an aim (albeit with some occasional unintended consequences to the contrary), whereas Russia, especially under Vladimir Putin, has championed causes like Brexit that seem chosen to maximize unrest and instability in rival nations. In the latest presidential race, Trump was a volatile authoritarian figure with certain pro-Russian views running against a woman whom Putin personally detested and considered a threat, hence why the leadership in Moscow acted to aid the former.

(Interestingly, those agents were apparently as surprised by his upset electoral victory as anyone else, having already laid the foundations for further disruptions to Hillary's presidency. As the text makes clear, influencing an election does not necessarily guarantee the desired outcome.)

Shimer walks us through all that, highlighting how this effort differed from earlier ones and providing an inside look at the Obama administration's real-time response as they learned of it. The new reach of social media allows misinformation and factual but damaging propaganda to spread directly to voters, eliminating the need to first convince trusted local brokers that may have served as a check in the past. And although American counterintelligence experts knew of the danger, they were more concerned about the potential hacking of voting machines and worried they would appear swayed by partisan politics if they addressed shady Republican support publicly.

Overall it's an eye-opening read even for someone who follows the news closely, and a good reminder as future campaigns unfold to view everything we see online with a critical lens as to its source and intent.

[Content warning for discussions of homophobia, sexism, antisemitism, and racism including slurs and death threats.]

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[Jacob Seaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was brilliant. The disinformation that surrounded the election and Russia's involvement was confusing, but this book provides clarity.

Their extensive notes (a total of 90 pages) pleasantly surprised me. The author interviewed numerous different qualified people to capture a diverse perspective. Although this may seem like a given for any nonfiction book, not all books reach this bar. And I am impressed with how thorough the research for this book was.

If any teachers are reading this review, I recommend reading this book and incorporating this into your curriculum. If not straight out assigning chapters of this book as additional reading. I have never said or thought this about a book ever. This book gives relevant insight into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election and the cold war era.

This book does a tremendous job explaining the cold war and how it lead to today. It emphasized past CIA involvement and did not paint the US as the "good" guys. It often draws similarities to what Russia has done to what we have done in Chile and Italy. Although this was a short section, I thought the description and implications of our intervention in Russia to democratize were well done. And the roles of foreign leaders such as Clinton and Obama that caused this intervention to occur I also enjoyed.

It is hard to find criticisms about this book, although I did see one that is hardly worth mentioning.


My only criticism for the book was its criticisms of Putin's "paranoia." Although it was impractical for the US to undergo covert operations, Putin didn't know that. Russia with strict control over information, the concept of lack of control- or an open market- is foreign to them. They wouldn't necessarily know how exposing the internet is and how little control the American government has over it. And if you look at past trends of American operations- such as Chile and Italy- if you didn't have a firm grasp of what an open platform meant, then it is easy to come to the conclusion the covert intervention never ended. The fact they came to the conclusion we were in a "glass house" is remarkable. I think it's inaccurate to portray his prior policy and thoughts as paranoia.

I want to emphasize how small of a point I made in my criticism. This criticism was only on the language the author used to describe Putin's previous strategy. But I thought I would mention it because it happened to be misleading. It did not affect the main point of the book. And consequently, I deemed it to be unnecessary to reflect it in the rating.
In conclusion, you should read this book. "Rigged" is the only book I have read that I would comfortably give five stars.

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitled: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Unless you've been under a rock for the last 4 years or so, you've probably heard a lot about interference in the 2016 presidential election by Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. Despite protests from Donald Trump and his supporters, the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities have both agreed that said interference was undeniable. Rigged provides an in depth history of election interference by both the U.S. and Russia, as well as examining the Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and responses to those efforts by the Obama administration.

While there were some attempts to influence foreign elections in the 1920s and 30s, the 'Golden Age' of election interference started in 1948 when the CIA and U.S. State Department cooperated to influence Italian voters to reject Communist Party candidates. It had mostly tapered off by the mid- to late-1970s as Congress began to examine CIA activities more closely.

Putin's motivation to take the risk of involving Russia in the 2016 U.S. election was a desire to prevent Hillary Clinton from gaining the presidency while at the same time causing as much chaos and divisiveness as possible. Russian efforts to hack individual state voter databases was uncovered fairly early on in the process, and the administration was most afraid of the Russians taking action to delete voter registration info to prevent individuals in selected areas from voting. But that wasn't the only avenue the Russians used. Stealing and then releasing DNC/Clinton campaign emails was very effective, but probably even more damaging were their social media campaigns using fake news stories to incite division along political/religious lines in an attempt to decrease voter turnout levels among African- and Jewish-Americans. While it's impossible to estimate the effect of these efforts in terms of raw votes, the election was close enough in a handful of battleground states that it's very possible Trump's victory was made possible by the Russians.

I gave Rigged four stars. A lot of the material was extremely dry, and I had expected more of a discussion of Russian efforts/abilities to alter actual vote tallies.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the kind of author who gets paid by the NWO to make things duopoly...to make you think "both" are wrong, so the truth continued to be buried...
First Chapter started with bashing Russia/Soviet had/has been interviewing with democractic US system....author lays a foundation and first impression: Communists have been rigging the West
Second Chapter: Oh..actually CIA has been doing that..let me remind everyone that Perkins who wrote Economic Killer is solely focusing on what CIA has been doing openly/covertly for CENTURIES to South America, APAC...
BUT the truth lays wonder on people's thought: Who is behind the "sides"..Khazars..Khazars...Rothschild, Oppenheimer, the 13 families, and inverted-totalitarianists have been betting on "sides"..to rage war, to spy on each other...WWI, WWII, ALL the wars are and have been staged by the "betters"...so whoever wins or loses, they rake in massive profits..
This particular author continues to put a shade of true ugliness in front of us...like a street card tricker...to make you think "you LOSE, because you don't see it"...
Really terrible author with obvious and sustancial money backing...
one hint was that Wikileaks exposed massive wrongdoings of US...and especially pedo Hiliary email gate..so what is wrong expose it?
Everyone calls US is the most democractic country in the world...COME ON!! EC elects the POTUS...and all POTUS needs to do: speech giving, sign bills, and be a statue on TV...A Mason lover, Washington has started the whole can of worm and who was behind him..
People have been living in a duopoly facade and the dirts are continued to be put on the lids...
Note: Who was behind Chariman Mao financial support? The one who bet on CKS of KMT but CKS refused to oblige afterwards
Who was behind Hitler financial support? Oh..the one bets on Churchill, and everyone else...in case Hitler failed
Who was behind Lenin financial support so he can crush the Tsars? You got it...same people supported Hitler and Churchill and those who supported Imperial Hirohito...

They lust for war, indifferences, hate, and profit...never change..
So this author tries to show his fancy knowledge of historical studies..Come On, brother...you ain't there yet!
Note: I really don't even want to give out 1 star...really...

[Tucker Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, let me compliment the author's writing itself. It is clear and engaging, and it was easy to breeze through this book.

Unfortunately, I was able to breeze through it in large part because there was little in the way of new information. Shimer recounts several well known instances of election interference during and after the Cold War. Only two of them had I not heard of: USSR efforts in West Germany, and the US decision not to rig the 2004 elections in Iraq. Aside from those, all of the cases that Shimer chose are already well documented, and his retellings, while fine summaries, do not add any particular analysis or insight.

That's the first half of the book. The second half of the book is reporting on the Obama administration's decisions to respond and not respond to Russian attacks on the US election in 2016, and the Trump administration's decision to minimize penalties for the attacks. Every reader of this book lived through those events as they happened, and anyone who picked up this book presumably was following coverage of those events closely. Here too there are few newly reported facts of consequence. Shimer takes full advantage of his access to high level sources (in the acknowledgements he notes that Hillary Rodham Clinton "met with me when I was still in high school to discuss my Cold War research and has since lent me her time and advice"). But with that access he gets almost nothing that hasn't been reported already. The quotes he does get are bland enough that he probably could have just as easily pulled them from existing interviews.

Oddly enough, I think this book will age well. Ten and twenty years from now, readers will exist who did not live through the 2016 election, or at least not while paying attention to it. Rigged is a concise summary of the role of Russia in that election. But for anyone who is capable of reading right now, this book is skippable.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Rigged" is a must read for anyone who is looking to cast a vote in this upcoming presidential election.

David Shimer walks the reader through the history of covert election interference perpetuated by the United States and Russia over the past 50 years, including America's intervention in Chile, Italy and Yugoslavia. The book then progresses to a detailed recounting of Vladimir Putin's interference in the United States' 2016 presidential election. What began as an animus against Hillary Clinton evolved into aiding Donald Trump's election efforts through the perpetuation of misinformation through social media channels.

Putin and Russia apparently had the expertise to alter cast votes, but there has been no evidence his people followed through with that. However, Shimer suggests we cannot discount the possibility that Putin will again meddle in our elections to Trump's benefit -- and, absent any sanctions from the United States or like-minded counties, could feel emboldened to do whatever is necessary to see a friendly remain in the White House.

Shimer talked to several key members of Barack Obama's administration, who rehash the then=president's reticence to punish Putin when he learned of Russian efforts to penetrate elections systems and machines prior to the 2016 general election..

If you, like me, are concerned about the integrity of elections, you need to read this book. You need to understand that misinformation -- changing the hearts and minds of voters through lies and distortion -- can be just as effective as probing voting machines for vulnerabilities. Russia revels in sowing discord among our people as it undermines our democracy, and they'll keep doing it if Trump and his administration abdicate their responsibility. Absent our present getting tough on Russia, we need to counter that misinformation ourselves.

[Hemanth N · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has been divided into 2 parts. In the first half of the book, it talks about how America interfered/influenced elections in some part of the world. In the 2nd half of the book, it talks about how Russia leveraged various social networking platforms to interfere in 2016 elections.

1. In 1948 , under Harry Truman, America interfered in Italian elections to get Christian democrats and their leader Alcide DeGasperi elected.
2. Marshall plan was providing aid to European territory to recover from Second World War.
3. CIA got involved Chile election and got Edudardo Frie, in place of then popular leader Allende. Later, Allende gets elected and commits suicide leading to end of democracy, until 1989. Afterward, Augusto Pinochet establishes military dictatorship.
4. Brezhnev Doctrine : A threat to socialism in one country would be treated as the threat to all socialist countries.
5. US funded NGO carried out operations to promote democracies: International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI). They provided training on campaign strategy, message development, volunteer recruitment and funding.
6. US (Clinton government) provided support to remove Yugoslav president “ Slobodan Milosevic”, who was involved in ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
7. In 2019, 64 countries experienced declines in political and civil liberties, 37 countries experienced gains, marking the 14th straight year of net losses.
8. Clinton helped Russian president, thru election, Boris Yeltsin. He was replaced by Vladimir Putin.
9. Kleptocracy is a government whose corrupt leaders use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population
10. In 1960, Nikita Khruschev, worked to curb Richard Nixon power and , in 1976, Leonod Brezhnev did same thing for Ronald Reagan. In 2016, Clinton was targeted by Putin.