The top Democratic senator is asking the Biden administration to do more for state and local governments to detect and respond. online disinformation campaigns According to the letter obtained by NBC News, it was designed to manipulate voters in the November election.
Sen. Mark Warner, R-Virginia, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called on the federal government’s civilian cybersecurity agency to increase support for state and local election officials, who he said are facing an onslaught of false information from locals. foreign actors – threatens to derail this fall’s vote.
“Unfortunately, during this election cycle, we have seen an unprecedented increase in targeted election disinformation campaigns,” Warner wrote to Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“I urge you to use all tools at your disposal to provide state and local officials with the necessary resources to detect, counter, and respond promptly to information manipulation campaigns leading up to and after elections,” Warner wrote.
Warner’s appeal came after repeated warnings from intelligence officials in Russia, Iran and China. classified information operations trying to shape the election results and revelations that Iranian operatives hacked former President Donald Trump’s campaign and tried to leak stolen information to major media outlets.
The senator’s letter coincides with growing concern among nonprofit groups and lawmakers that the federal government and social media technology firms are taking an overly passive approach to the threat of disinformation. They say that some state and local election institutions are understaffed ill-equipped to manage problem, and it is uncertain how much they can rely on federal agencies for help.
In his letter, Warner said state and local governments are struggling to keep up with rapid advances in AI-powered data operations. Cyber security teams at the state and local level “operate with limited staff and resources, making it extremely difficult for small teams to respond to sophisticated AI-powered campaigns targeting elections,” Warner writes.
The MP said that the extent of local and foreign efforts to manipulate information not only threatens the stable management of elections, but also threatens to prevent participation in elections and intimidate voters. The senator cited recent elections plagued by allegations of fraud, including in Florida in 2020, when tens of thousands of voters received emails directing them to change party affiliation and vote for a particular candidate or face physical violence.
The senator commended CISA for providing educational materials and other information to local governments and urged the agency to build on these efforts and expand its work with associations representing state election offices.
CISA previously said the agency helps educate the public and train state and local election officials about the tactics used in disinformation campaigns.
“At CISA, we certainly haven’t stopped prioritizing this as a threat vector that we take very seriously for this election cycle,” a CISA official told NBC News in June.
A coalition of nonprofits and good-government groups has formed a bipartisan, national network of former officials, technology experts and others to help local election authorities find out. deepfakes or other false claims respond quickly and with accurate information.
Last week, U.S. officials said they were taking a series of actions to disrupt Russia’s disinformation efforts, including shutting down Internet domains, imposing sanctions and indicting two Russians for allegedly funneling money to American circles of influence while hiding Moscow’s role.
But the Biden administration does not have a company plans to warn the public about deepfakes or other false information ahead of November unless it clearly comes from a foreign actor and poses a serious enough threataccording to current and past officials. Instead, it will be up to state and local election officials to report any misinformation coming from within the United States to voters.
FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials worry they could face accusations that they tried to sway the election in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris, current and former officials say.
Under pressure from Warner and other lawmakers, the intelligence community declassified some material on foreign disinformation, and for the first time, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence held regular press briefings on efforts by foreign adversaries to influence the 2024 election.