Institutions of democracy in America continue to be threatened by foreign influence campaigns led by Russia, China, Iran and others, U.S. departments and agencies warned in a joint statement last Friday.
“We are concerned about ongoing campaigns by Russia, China and other foreign actors, including Iran, to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and influence public sentiment and government policies,” says the statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and the FBI. “These activities may also seek to influence voter perceptions and decision making in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections.”
At the moment, there is no evidence that election systems have been compromised ahead of the mid-term congressional elections on Nov. 6. The agencies said that their awareness of potential threats to election infrastructure is improving through better information sharing among federal, state and local partners.
Still, there have been attempts to breach election networks.
“Some state and local governments have reported attempts to access their networks, which often include online voter registration databases, using tactics that are available to state and non-state cyber actors,” the statement says. “Thus far, state and local officials have been able to prevent access or quickly mitigate these attempts.”
Separately on Friday, the Justice Department charged a Russian National, Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, for allegedly participating in a Russian conspiracy to “interfere in U.S. politics and the 2018 mid-term election.
“The strategic goal of this alleged conspiracy, which continues to this day, is to sow discord in the U.S. political system and to undermine the faith in our democratic institutions,” U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger said in a statement.
Under Project Lakhta, which is funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich, funding is targeting audiences in Russia, the U.S. and elsewhere through the use of activists, social media advertising, web sites, and the purchase of proxy servers. The Justice Department said $35 million has been spent on Project Lakhta over more than two years, with just a portion directed at the U.S.
Internally, the project’s aim is “’information warfare against the United States,” the Justice Department said.
The influence campaigns appear in a variety of ways, such as social media, English media such as Russian-sponsored networks RT and Sputnik, and finding “sympathetic spokespersons” for political candidates and propaganda, the intelligence statement says.
The U.S. agencies say they continue to work together to understand the threat from the foreign influence campaigns and that they are working with state and local election officials to increase the security of their elections systems.