Sixty days ahead of the elections, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) still sees no foreign attempt to disrupt the November elections, even though it is looking for “cyber or physical disruptions of election infrastructure.” Key points:
- No detection of “any foreign actor seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.”
- No detection of “any activities that could enagle election interference….”
- “… it would be very difficult for a foreign actor to manipulate election processes at a large enough scale to impact the outcome of a federal election without detection….”
- “… adversaries so far are focused on using information operations and propaganda to try to shape voter preferences or undermine confidence in the election.”
- Adverwaries are working “to cast doubt on the electoral process or claim that they have interfered in the process when they have not actually done so….”
- Russia, China, and Iran are the only countries named as problematic.
“To date, the IC [intelligence community] has not observed any foreign actor seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections,” the report says. (Emphasis added)
“The IC and our partners, however, continue to monitor foreign actors’ influence efforts, seeking to uncover any activities that could enable election interference, especially cyber or physical disruptions of election infrastructure. The interagency election security community assesses that it would be very difficult for a foreign actor to manipulate election processes at a large enough scale to impact the outcome of a federal election without detection by intelligence collection, post-election audits, or physical and cybersecurity monitoring of the decentralized and diverse election infrastructure across the country. Instead of interference, the IC assesses adversaries so far are focused on using information operations and propaganda to try to shape voter preferences or undermine confidence in the election. We continue to monitor adversaries’ efforts to cast doubt on the electoral process or claim that they have interfered in the process when they have not actually done so, a tactic known as ‘perception hacking.’
“Cyber espionage” doesn’t mean interference, ODNI assesses: “In addition, reports of cyber espionage against election or campaign infrastructure do not necessarily mean that an actor is trying to affect the conduct of an election. Foreign adversaries sometimes use cyber tools to collect information that helps them tailor their influence messages to certain U.S. audiences or embarrass or denigrate particular candidates through leaks. For example, we have seen foreign actors work to compromise political entities. We have seen all key foreign actors engage in such efforts during this election cycle.”
Source:
1. ODNI-Election-Security-Update
1. Why does the entire US intelligence community, 60 days out from the 2024 elections, not consider foreign manipulation of electronic voting systems to be a threat?
2. Why does it not see Venezuela or Cuba as important foreign actors?
3. Could there be an attempt to divert attention away from Venezuela or Cuba?
4. Can one read into this an intelligence community implication that “distrust” of electronic voting systems not legitimate, but is actually a hostile foreign intelligence operation intended to divide Americans further?
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