>>12079102
>>12079055
Historical Context
Coercive Activities
One thing that has not been much noted in recent years is that malign foreign influence in our elections has been a concern since the Founding of our Republic. Using the 3C’s framework, I want to start with coercive activities.
Going all the way back in 1787, when the Founders were debating the merits of “our new Constitution,” Thomas Jefferson told John Adams that he was “apprehensive of foreign interference, intrigue, influence.” Adams too worried that “as often as elections happen, the danger of foreign influence recurs.” Nine years later, the two squared off in the first contested presidential election in American history.
Covert or Deceptive Activities
Since the twentieth century, as the United States evolved into a superpower, malign foreign influence has been less about coercion and more about deceptive or covert efforts, meaning that the foreign government has tried to disguise or conceal its role. In the 1930s, Nazi Germany directed an extensive underground effort to influence U.S. public opinion. One German agent, for example, entered the United States claiming to be a clergyman and used Nazi funds to take over small, established newspapers and civic organizations until he was indicted for failing to register as a foreign agent and fled the country as a fugitive. Congress responded to these and similar activities by enacting the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 1938, which requires disclosure of foreign influence activities. The Justice Department successfully prosecuted some of Germany’s “most useful American agents” who tried to hide their activities.
Corrupt Activities
So let me turn to the third “C” of malign foreign influence: corrupt measures to influence elections. One attempt was apparently made in 1968, when, according to, the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, “the top Soviet leaders took an extraordinary step, unprecedented in the history of Soviet-American relations,” and ordered him to offer Vice President and Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey’s campaign secret financial aid. But when Dobrynin asked Humphrey about his campaign’s financial state, Humphrey replied that it “was more than enough for him to have Moscow’s good wishes,” and Dobrynin did not formally convey the offer. Six years later, Congress made it illegal for foreign nationals to make campaign contributions.
Comparisons with Current Media and Technologies
So malign foreign influence efforts in our elections has been a perennial problem. But though the general threat isn’t novel, some of the challenges we’re facing now are different. As President Trump put it in Executive Order 13848: “In recent years, the proliferation of digital devices and internet-based communications has created significant vulnerabilities and magnified the scope and intensity…”
The 2020 Landscape
At this point, I want to touch briefly on the current threat landscape as we head toward Election Day. The department of Justice, DHS, and other federal agencies, have engaged in an unprecedented level of coordination with and support to all 50 states and numerous local officials to ensure that their election infrastructure is secure. We have yet to see any activity intended to prevent voting or to change votes, and we continue to think that it would be extraordinarily difficult for foreign adversaries to change vote tallies.
Advice from Our Predecessors
First, we just need to be aware that malign foreign influence efforts have always existed and they still do. It’s one of the warnings that President George Washington shared when he counseled Americans that “against the insidious wiles of foreign influence … the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake.”
Second, this means we should not take information from foreign governments or questionable sources at face value. Information from countries or regions that have a history of propaganda, should be taken with “a grain of salt,” if not “two and then three grains,” as President Franklin Roosevelt said. We’ve been warning the public that “some foreign governments” have a track record of spreading fabricated stories, disinformation, and propaganda to try to shape voter perceptions, and the Intelligence Community continues to share information about what those governments are doing in 2020. All Americans can control what information they rely on and can exercise care by evaluating that information with a critical eye.
Finally, while we must remain vigilant,
Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen
National Security
Office of the Deputy Attorney General
Updated August 27, 2020