Election faces threats
Biden campaign says it has faced interference
As the presidential vote nears, the U.S. intelligence community confirmed foreign actors are seeking to compromise political campaigns’ private communications, as well as the nation’s infrastructure.
NEW YORK – As the Nov. 3 presidential vote nears, there are fresh signs that the nation’s electoral system is again under attack from foreign adversaries.
Intelligence officials confirmed in recent days that foreign actors are seeking to compromise the private communications of “U.S. political campaigns, candidates and other political targets” while working to compromise the nation’s election infrastructure.
Foreign entities are also spreading disinformation intended to sow voter confusion.
There is no evidence that America’s enemies have succeeded in penetrating campaigns or state election systems, but Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential campaign confirmed that it has faced multiple related threats.
The former vice president’s team was reluctant to reveal specifics for fear of giving adversaries useful intelligence.
Because of such secrecy, at least in part, foreign interference largely remains an afterthought in the 2020 contest, even as Republicans and Democrats concede it poses a threat that could fundamentally reshape the election.
Biden’s campaign is concerned that pro-Russian sources have already shared disinformation about Biden’s family with President Donald Trump’s campaign and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill.
The Trump campaign refused to say if it had accepted materials related to Biden from any foreign nationals. Trump was impeached last year after being caught pressuring Ukrainian leaders to produce damaging information about work Biden’s son did in the country, even though repeated allegations of corruption against the Bidens have been widely discredited.
A Biden spokesman said “absolutely not” when asked if the campaign had received materials from foreign actors.
The 2020 campaigns and party committees have received regular briefings from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, whose director, Bill Evanina, released a rare public statement last week confirming Russia’s continued work to meddle in the U.S. election.
Evanina said that Russia, as part of an effort to weaken the U.S. and its global standing, has been spreading disinformation to undermine confidence in American democracy and “to denigrate what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment’ in America.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said foreign adversaries “never stopped trying to interfere with our election process.”
He said the foreign meddling includes some new tactics, noting that the Internet Research Agency is operating under a different name.
“The idea that we could be headed into Labor Day without the American public being officially put on notice seems grossly inappropriate,” Warner said.