Presidential election a top target for foreign disinformation, intelligence officials say

An official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Wednesday, without providing details, that the figure is higher, at least in part because “presidential elections attract greater attention from adversaries.”

One of the officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the increase in warnings that began last fall could reflect an increased threat, improved government detection capabilities or both.

Lawmakers from both parties expressed concern about the nation's preparedness for foreign disinformation during a presidential election and the potential damage it could cause to voter confidence and faith in our democratic institutions. They also questioned whether the federal government has the ability to warn voters when countries like Russia or China attempt to use disinformation to influence American politics.

Influence operations include disinformation and propaganda designed to mislead voters about particular candidates, issues, or races, as well as social media posts and other digital content intended to suppress voting through intimidation or provide voters with misinformation about election procedures.

The list of countries waging such campaigns includes familiar adversaries such as Russia, China and Iran, as well as a growing number of second-tier nations such as Cuba, officials said, and there are also signs that some U.S. allies are running their own campaigns aimed at influencing voters, they said.

One official said Russia was the biggest threat and its main goal was to undermine public support for Ukraine and confidence in American democracy more generally.

China is believed to be more cautious than Russia about online disinformation campaigns, worried about potential backlash from the U.S., officials said. Iran is seen as an “agent of chaos” likely to experiment with online techniques to stoke voter anger and violence.

Officials did not say how many private warnings they had issued to candidates, political groups or campaign offices. The warnings come after a joint committee of intelligence officials concluded that influence efforts could be used to sway the outcome of elections or discourage certain groups from voting.

The official said the warning would only be issued if authorities could determine the operation was the work of a foreign source, allowing authorities to “take a more defensive posture.”

The unit within the intelligence community leading the effort, the Center for Foreign Malicious Influence, has no jurisdiction over domestic entities, and officials briefing reporters on Wednesday said they were trying to avoid the appearance of policing Americans' speech or playing favorites when it comes to candidates.

The only time intelligence officials have publicly warned about this was in 2020, when groups with ties to Iran sent emails to Democratic voters in an apparent attempt to intimidate them into voting for Donald Trump.

Powerful artificial intelligence programs that can quickly create images, audio and video are posing a growing problem as researchers seek to use the technology to create lifelike fakes that could easily mislead voters.

The use of AI has already emerged ahead of elections in India, Mexico, Moldova, Slovakia and Bangladesh, and in the US, some voters in New Hampshire received an AI robocall that imitated the voice of President Joe Biden.

Officials said AI deepfakes used by U.S. adversaries remain the biggest threat.