An election security update issued by the Biden-Harris government’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) contradicts—in part—Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray’s claims that Russia is actively interfering in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Specifically, the DNI notice states, “the [intelligence community] has not observed any foreign actors seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.”
“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 the physical and cybersecurity monitoring of the decentralized and diverse election infrastructure across the country,” the DNI report reads.
Late last week, Attorney General Garland and FBI Director Wray announced the Biden-Harris government is indicting two Russian nationals for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). At a news conference announcing the prosecutions, both Garland and Wray insinuated the two Russian individuals were at the center of a plot to interfere in the U.S. election. However, the indictment itself details a broader scheme to inject pro-Russia talking points into American news and heighten partisan discord among the populace.
The DNI does state that there are foreign operations aimed at boosting preferred candidates—something that occurs in almost every U.S. presidential election. To this end, the intelligence community notes that foreign actors “sometimes use cyber tools to collect information that helps them… embarrass or denigrate particular candidates through leaks”—likely referring to a recent hacking of former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign by Iran. The hacked documents and emails were subsequently leaked to several media outlets—though they have chosen thus far not to publish the illicitly obtained material.
show lessBREAKING: Director of National Intelligence says “to date, the IC has not observed any foreign actor seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.” pic.twitter.com/XtmG1prvja
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) September 6, 2024
