With the U.S. presidential election now just two weeks away, members of the intelligence community are concerned about foreign actors ramping up attempts to influence voters.
In a call Tuesday led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, officials warned that countries like Russia and Iran remain intent on fanning divisive narratives online in an effort to undermine Americans' trust in U.S. democratic systems. Officials also acknowledged that they expect these foreign influence efforts to intensify — particularly on social media — in the lead up to and weeks following the election.
"Foreign actors may perceive a window of vulnerability to push disinformation or foment or amplify protests and threats during the period between certification and the joint session of Congress on Sixth January,” said an ODNI official. “Iran and Russia are probably willing to at least consider tactics that could foment or contribute to violent protests and may threaten or amplify threats of physical violence in the post-election timeframe.”
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One example officials pointed to was from the 2020 election cycle, when death threats aimed at U.S. election officials were posted to a website called "Enemies of the People." The FBI and CISA later determined that Iranian cyber actors were behind the threats.
“Even if these disinformation campaigns are not specifically calling for violence, the tactics used to undermine confidence in the democratic institutions can lead to violence, even if not deliberately called for," said an official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Meanwhile, based on intelligence that came out within the last week or so, the intelligence community says that Russian influence actors created and amplified content alleging “inappropriate activity committed by the Democratic vice presidential candidate during his earlier career” — that person being Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Officials added that the content was manipulated, but did not specifically say how, just that it was in line with other Russian efforts. Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokesperson for the Harris campaign, issued a statement condemning the alleged Russian influence efforts.
"Vladimir Putin wants Donald Trump to win because he knows Trump will roll over and give him anything he wants," said Finkelstein. "We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections."
Meanwhile, one thing intelligence officials said they aren't expecting this election is disruptive attacks on election infrastructure or attempts to alter the vote count. One ODNI official also told reporters that the interagency election security community has “significantly increased its ops tempo” and the group of experts has met six times over the past week to review intelligence and discuss possible actions.
