Iran and Russia are using voter registration data to interfere in U.S. elections, top national security officials announced during a surprise press conference Wednesday night.
National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that Iran has a hand behind some spoof emails to voters and that it is spreading disline ambiguity about sending fraudulent ballots from abroad. He said Russia has also gained access to voter registration data, as it did in 2016.
Both Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Ware said no vote was compromised. “Today, that [election] The infrastructure remains resilient, ”Vare said on Wednesday. “You have to be confident that your vote counts.”
National security officials did not actually give many other details in their contingency announcement. Spoof emails look like they were sent Some voters in Alaska and FloridaIs, which claims to send from a proud organization, a proud boy. According to reports, the emails targeted Democratic voters, claiming they had access to the voting structure and were threatening them if they did not vote for Trump.
The Washington Post reported before the press conference that the US government had concluded that Iran was behind the emails.
Officials did not elaborate on how they concluded that he was behind spoof emails and other misinformation to Iran, nor did they elaborate on Russia’s possible activities. Ratcliffe said the ambiguity encouraged by Iran was intended to “provoke social unrest” and hurt President Donald Trump, although he did not elaborate further on the findings. Neither Ratcliffe nor Vare took questions.
A person familiar with the intelligence told Vox that the email campaign was intended to hurt Trump in Iran, but that it was not necessarily true of all his malicious activities. But the idea here was to “provoke a reaction against Trump because he’s in bed with a disgusting group.”
All in all, it was a pretty fantastic press conference. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has warned the public against foreign interference in the 2020 elections, much of which is designed to sow discord and undermine confidence in the democratic process. Such a divisive, disruptive campaign was therefore expected.
And as many have said, Voter registration rolls are publicly available, And so it could not be clear what that means when officials say foreign artists have obtained voter registration data. In 2016, Russia conducted targeted voting systems in all 50 states, although no voter information or votes were changed.
“Voting data, including partisan affiliations, is public,” said David Baker, executive director of the Election Innovation and Research Center. Tweeted. “Easy to get and in some cases free. The fact that this data is out is not an indication of any data breach. “
The press conference is noteworthy for what officials did not say
In August Gust, ODNI named Russia, China and Iran as primary election threats. Everyone has different goals when it comes to foreign intervention. As experts told me earlier this year, Russia is too focused on creating chaos, while Iran and China are less eager to see the U.S. in despair, and more eager to advance their national objectives.
However, in the past Iran has used social media to spread propaganda and split content, and based on tonight’s announcement, they are looking to open up further in 2020.
“In recent years, Iranian intelligence operations have been pushing the boundaries with bold and innovative approaches. However, the incident marks a fundamental shift in our understanding of Iran’s readiness to interfere in the democratic process, “John Hultquit, senior director of analysis at Mandate Threat Intelligence, said in an emailed statement.
While such disinformation campaigns do not take on full sophistication, Iran’s capabilities, especially when it comes to cyber operations, are not entirely appropriate at the level of Russia and China.
And while officials did not go into details about what Russia is, the Kremlin is heavily interfering in the 2020 election, spreading anti-disinformation information and trying to provide vague information about the Democratic candidate Bn Biden. Further questions have been raised after the New York Post published Hunter Biden’s email, which was handed to the paper by Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Those emails were an attempt to rebuke the scandal about Biden’s dealings in Ukraine, which has continued to flicker in right-wing circles. Giuliani also previously worked with Ukrainian politician Andrei Derkach, who is also a U.S. citizen. The government approved the interference in the 2020 elections.
DNI Ratcliffe had previously said that “there is no intelligence that supports” that Hunter Biden emails “are part of the Russian disinformation campaign.” The FBI has told Congress that it has “nothing to add” to Ratcliffe’s statement.
But the authenticity and actual source of the emails (the story given to the New York Post about where the laptop came from, something good) is still unclear, and dozens of former intelligence officials have said the emails are all “earmarks” of classic Russian disinformation.
Again, officials did not provide any details Wednesday about Russia’s activities, and did not address any issues related to Hunter Biden emails. But given the questions surrounding the story, the timing of the press conference to call on Iran and Russia is significant. Moreover, when it comes to Iran, the Trump administration is also engaged in a campaign of maximum pressure against the regime, and it has called for continued attention to Iran’s atrocities, justifying sanctions and other drastic measures.
However, the U.S. All threats to interfere or interfere in the election are serious. Iran, or Russia, or any other U.S. The society is already absorbing sections and partisan tensions, and just two weeks before election day, much of it will turn to frustrating voting. As FBI Director Ware said Wednesday, the best place to get accurate, up-to-date, up-to-date voter information is your state election officials. Because voters should be aware that it is going to get worse from here until election day.
Alex and Ward Ward contributed to this story.
