Russia, Iran and China are attempting to sway the US 2020 elections, a senior intelligence official within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) claimed on Friday.
According The Hill, William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, noted that the ODNI had been regularly briefing members of Congress, presidential campaigns and political committees on these foreign threats to elections “in recent months.”
“Foreign nations continue to use influence measures in social and traditional media in an effort to sway U.S. voters’ preferences and perspectives, to shift U.S. policies, to increase discord and to undermine confidence in our democratic process,” Evanina said in a statement on Friday. “The coronavirus pandemic and recent protests, for instance, continue to serve as fodder for foreign influence and disinformation efforts in America.”
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He warned that “at this time, we’re primarily concerned with China, Russia and Iran – although other nation states and non-state actors could also do harm to our electoral process. Our insights and judgments will evolve as the election season progresses.”
Evanina said that China is using influence efforts to “shape the policy environment” in the United States, and was conscious that these efforts could “affect the presidential race.”
He warned that both Russia and Iran by contrast are deliberately seeking to weaken U.S. democratic institutions, including elections, with Russia using “internet trolls and proxies” to spread disinformation to undermine elections, and Iran circulating “anti-U.S. content” online through separate disinformation efforts.
Among other concerns were attempts by foreign adversaries to gain access to election infrastructure, including through targeting campaign communications and federal networks.
“Our adversaries also seek to compromise our election infrastructure, and we continue to monitor malicious cyber actors trying to gain access to U.S. state and federal networks, including those responsible for managing elections,” Evanina said.
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He emphasized that “the diversity of election systems among the states, multiple checks and redundancies in those systems, and post-election auditing all make it extraordinarily difficult for foreign adversaries to broadly disrupt or change vote tallies without detection.”
Evanina vowed that while the federal government would work to counter these foreign threats to elections, the American public must also assist in this effort.
Evanina said that China is using influence efforts to “shape the policy environment” in the United States, and was conscious that these efforts could “affect the presidential race.”
He warned that both Russia and Iran by contrast are deliberately seeking to weaken U.S. democratic institutions, including elections, with Russia using “internet trolls and proxies” to spread disinformation to undermine elections, and Iran circulating “anti-U.S. content” online through separate disinformation efforts.
Among other concerns were attempts by foreign adversaries to gain access to election infrastructure, including through targeting campaign communications and federal networks.
“Our adversaries also seek to compromise our election infrastructure, and we continue to monitor malicious cyber actors trying to gain access to U.S. state and federal networks, including those responsible for managing elections,” Evanina said.
He emphasized that “the diversity of election systems among the states, multiple checks and redundancies in those systems, and post-election auditing all make it extraordinarily difficult for foreign adversaries to broadly disrupt or change vote tallies without detection.”
Evanina vowed that while the federal government would work to counter these foreign threats to elections, the American public must also assist in this effort.
