Russia, China, and Iran are working to interfere in U.S. politics in the run-up to November’s election, according to the U.S. intelligence community.
William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said on Friday that these countries are seeking to undermine faith in the U.S. democratic system.
“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,” he said in an update, with roughly 100 days until Election Day.
Evanina said the coronavirus pandemic and the recent protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody “continue to serve as fodder for foreign influence and disinformation efforts” in the United States.
“At this time, we’re primarily concerned with China, Russia, and Iran — although other nation states and nonstate actors could also do harm to our electoral process. Our insights and judgments will evolve as the election season progresses,” Evanina said.
“Russia’s persistent objective is to weaken the United States and diminish our global role,” Evanina said. He pointed to “a range of efforts, including internet trolls and other proxies” while warning that “Russia continues to spread disinformation in the United States that is designed to undermine confidence in our democratic process and denigrate what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment’ in America.”
The nation’s top counterintelligence official also said, “China is expanding its influence efforts to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests, and counter criticism of China.” He also noted that “Beijing recognizes its efforts might affect the presidential race.”
Evanina additionally warned, “Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions and divide the country in advance of the elections,” noting that “Iran’s efforts center around online influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content.”
The announcement came the same week that the U.S. condemned Russian intelligence-linked hackers for attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research and indicted two Chinese secret police-linked hackers for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trade secrets and for targeting U.S. research institutions for possible COVID-19 research. This week, Iran also executed a man it claimed was a spy who helped the U.S. kill Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
“Today, we see our adversaries seeking to compromise the private communications of U.S. political campaigns, candidates, and other political targets. 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. “However, 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 said that “election security remains a top priority for the Intelligence Community” and noted the key roles played by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI. He said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, led by DNI John Ratcliffe and overseeing the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies, has been providing “robust intelligence-based briefings on election security to the presidential campaigns, political committees, and Congressional audiences.” Evanina vowed to continue to “update Americans on the evolving election threat landscape.”
“The American public has a role to play in securing the election, particularly in maintaining vigilance against foreign influence. At the most basic level, we encourage Americans to consume information with a critical eye, check out sources before reposting or spreading messages, practice good cyber hygiene and media literacy, and report suspicious election-related activity to authorities,” Evanina said. “As Americans, we are all in this together; our elections should be our own. Foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections are a direct threat to the fabric of our democracy. Neutralizing these threats requires not just a whole-of-government approach but a whole-of-nation effort.”
Congressional Democrats revealed this week that they sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray claiming that “Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign” related to the 2020 election.
“Gang of Eight (and others impacted) were already briefed. Weeks ago. This request is a CYA,” former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell tweeted in response.
In March, ODNI officials told lawmakers they rejected a stream of media reports based on classified briefings on election security.
“The IC has not concluded that the Kremlin is directly aiding any candidate’s reelection or any other candidates’ election. Nor have we concluded that the Russians will definitely choose to try to do so in 2020,” the ODNI’s declassified fact sheet read. “This is not a Russia-only problem.”
Robert Mueller’s special counsel report, released in April 2019, said Russians interfered in the 2016 election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” but “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.”
