New Intelligence Report Alleges Russian and Iranian Interference in the 2020 Election through Media
A new report alleges that Russian and Iranian operatives attempted to influence the decision of Americans at the ballot box in the 2020 election. Source.
According to a declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized operations aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2020 election. The report alleges that the Kremlin sought to attack Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in order to support former President Trump’s reelection campaign, sow doubt in public confidence concerning the election process, and further divide the American public during the campaign. In contrast to the Russian interference, Iranian officials allegedly attempted to sway the election towards presidential candidate Biden through similar strategies of exacerbating societal tensions and undermining faith in the election process.
Still, there were no substantial attempts to gain access to the actual election infrastructure by the Russians or any foreign actors like there had been in 2016. There was no evidence that any foreign actor attempted to tamper with the 2020 election by manipulating voter registration, ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results. Instead, interfering with American media became the primary way to try and influence election outcomes.
Former Special Counsel for the Department of Justice Robert Mueller named 12 Russian nationals for hacking the U.S. voting system during the 2016 election cycle. These hackers stole information on about half a million voters including names, addresses and partial social security numbers. This attack on U.S. election infrastructure in 2016 was starkly different than the Russian operatives’ alleged main strategy in 2020 to spread disinformation and propaganda. The goal was to convince the American electorate to vote for Trump over Biden by pushing allegations against Joe Biden regarding his connections to Russia and Ukraine via his son Hunter Biden, to U.S. media organizations and officials.
Seeds of this type of cyber-interference began in the 2016 election cycle when Russian operatives hacked the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee. The Russians also released damaging information on the internet and produced propganaga on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in hopes of swaying voters to vote for Trump. Evidence gathered by Special Counsel Mueller attested all of these points.
Beyond Russia, the intelligence report notes that Iran carried out a “multi-pronged covert influence plan,” intended to hurt Donald Trump in the election. Unlike the Russians, the Iranians were promoting the Biden platform and other Trump opponents in hopes of an election loss for the former president. Iran was interested in ending the Trump administration due to the escalating sanctions and growing tensions between the two nations during Trump’s term, including the extrajudicial killing of an Iranian official via a Trump-ordered airstrike.
Russia and Iran backed opposing candidates in their interventions in the 2020 election media cycle. Although both interveners backed different candidates, both used the strategy of attacking the trust Americans had in their potential presidential candidates, current representatives, electoral processes, and overall democracy.
With the growing capabilities in cyber warfare, it will be increasingly important to maintain good defense systems during election time due to the clear international interest in influencing American elections. Additionally, it must be noted that the easiest target from 2016 through 2020 has been the American citizenry, and perhaps the greatest externality is the growing division between American political parties. While much disinformation comes from inside the U.S., Americans must also note the alleged strategy for influencing elections adopted by both Russia and Iran - dividing the population and undermining faith in our election systems. Distrust in our democracy is not only damaging in election time, but also damaging to the cohesion of the nation.