Senator Reed calls for aggressive measures to counter Russian disinformation
page S1368, Congressional Record 2/14/2019
https://www.congress.gov/116/crec/2019/02/14/CREC-2019-02-14.pdf
Follows a speech in which Senator Menendez reminds us that POTUS is a witting or unwitting agent of Putin.
"Russia is prosecuting an ongoing, persistent campaign of information warfare targeted at the United States and Western democracies."
they "magnify fear and mistrust, create chaos, and undermine our ability to respond effectively."
First of all, we need the President to be straight with the American people.
The President’s own national security officials and intelligence community agree about the existence and seriousness of the attacks being conducted by Russia against our democracy. The President, as our Nation’s leader, must embrace the same conclusion.
Cites advice given in the German Marshall fund's policy blueprint.
"These efforts include standing up task forces between DHS and the FBI to target foreign influence within our borders, reorganizing the internal structures of DHS, and establishing the Russia Influence Group across several national security agencies. NSA and Cyber Command also established a working group called the Russia Small Group to counter Kremlin information warfare campaigns."
"This year’s NDAA authorized the appointment of a foreign influence coordinator on the National Security Council staff"
"One important step toward reestablishing such a capability was enlarging the mission of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center in the fiscal year 2017 NDAA to ‘‘lead, synchronize, and coordinate efforts of the Federal Government to recognize, understand, expose, and counter’’ foreign state propaganda and disinformation targeting U.S. national security interests. However, the Global Engagement Center has been under resourced and slow to execute its mission. We need to accelerate this effort."
"Comprehensive solutions to these comprehensive challenges will require whole-of-government and even whole-of-nation cooperation extending far beyond DOD."
"A proposal to stand up an interagency fusion cell similar to what I am describing was recommended in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority staff report from January 2018. That report envisioned that such a center ‘‘should include representatives from the FBI, CIA, the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Defense, and Treasury, and it should immediately produce a strategy, plan,
and robust budget that coordinates all current and projected government programming to counter Russian Government interference and malign influence.’’
Similarly, the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act, or DASKA, a bill that Senator MENENDEZ indicated was reintroduced yesterday in a bipartisan fashion—Senator MENENDEZ and Senator GRAHAM are leading this effort—includes language to establish such a fusion center.
"Certain social media companies have made some reforms and worked with law enforcement and DHS to take down fraudulent networks—or what the companies deem as inauthentic accounts. For instance, late last month, Twitter announced that before the 2018 midterms, it removed 418 Russian accounts whose behavior mimicked that of the Kremlin-linked troll organization. However, we just can’t assume, going forward, that these companies will act in the best interest of U.S. national security and continue to cooperate without some guidance or, perhaps, even regulation. These are private, for-profit companies, and like any company, they are worried how reputational damage will affect their bottom lines. If they cannot organize themselves effectively to combat warfare campaigns, Congress will have to legislate solutions.
"Such an effort is already underway in the European Union, which has worked on several fronts to protect users of social media. The EU has established data privacy rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, that seek to strengthen individual rights for the protection of personal data. In addition, the EU has worked with online platforms which are developing voluntary standards to fight disinformation, known as the Code of Practice on Disinformation. As well, EU member nations have also made threats of regulation and fines if social media companies do not do more to address disinformation and fake accounts. It would make sense to look closely at what the EU is implementing to see what might be appropriate for our purposes."
"The Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned last November, The [2018] midterm is . . . just the warmup or the exhibition game. . . . The big game for adversaries is probably 2020.