Less than two weeks away from the November 5th US presidential election, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that progress has been made in identifying foreign interference in elections in the United States.
Sullivan mentioned the topic of identifying foreign interference in elections during his speech at an artificial intelligence event on Thursday, October 24th.
“I believe we have made progress in this regard, but there is still a long way to go to achieve the goals we need,” he said.
US intelligence officials revealed on the 8th that foreign adversaries are attempting to undermine Americans’ confidence in the legitimacy of the November 5th election results by issuing false statements or spreading fake information related to the voting process.
“As the election day approaches, the intelligence community is also emphasizing that efforts by foreign entities to disrupt American democracy will not end on November 5th,” a senior intelligence official told the media during an online briefing.
In the latest assessment of foreign actors’ threats to the US elections released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODI) on the 7th, intelligence officials pointed out that China and Russia are the primary foreign powers attempting to influence the election results. They are also interfering in congressional and state elections while intensifying their dissemination of false information online.
Intelligence officials anticipate that foreign actors “will continue their activities after the votes are cast, questioning the validity of the election results.”
The intelligence agencies assess that the current presidential and congressional elections will be highly contentious, and “foreign powers may employ strategies similar to those they are using today to undermine people’s trust in the fairness of the election and election procedures, and further exacerbate divisions among Americans.”
US intelligence officials noted that leaders in China and Russia have a deep understanding of the American political system, and both countries have observed that this year’s election environment is tense and highly competitive. They believe that this situation not only favors the spread of misinformation but also makes it easier to influence voters’ perceptions.
In the September assessment summary, the ODI cited an example of China utilizing artificial intelligence for broader influence operations to shape global perceptions of China and exacerbate domestic political divisions in the United States, despite these actions not being directly targeted at the US election results. For instance, pro-China network proxies have been using AI-generated fake news anchors and false social media accounts with AI-generated profiles to sow discord on issues like drug abuse, immigration, and abortion.