Intelligence Chiefs Warn That Russian Interference Is Ongoing and Will Get Worse

Photo: ​Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Top intelligence officials in the U.S. testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee today at the annual hearing on worldwide threats. They unanimously expressed confidence in the Intelligence Community report from January 2017. That report stated the following:

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.”

Today, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned that the Russian government considers their interference in the 2016 election to have been well worth the trouble, and that Americans should expect interference in the 2018 elections as well.

In his Statement for the Record, Director Coats stated:

“Influence operations, especially through cyber means, will remain a significant threat to US interests as they are low-cost, relatively low-risk, and deniable ways to retaliate against adversaries, to shape foreign perceptions, and to influence populations. Russia probably will be the most capable and aggressive source of this threat in 2018, although many countries and some nonstate actors are exploring ways to use influence operations, both domestically and abroad.

“We assess that the Russian intelligence services will continue their efforts to disseminate false information via Russian state-controlled media and covert online personas about US activities to encourage anti-US political views. Moscow seeks to create wedges that reduce trust and confidence in democratic processes, degrade democratization efforts, weaken US partnerships with European allies, undermine Western sanctions, encourage anti-US political views, and counter efforts to bring Ukraine and other former Soviet states into European institutions.  

• Foreign elections are critical inflection points that offer opportunities for Russia to advance its interests both overtly and covertly. The 2018 US mid-term elections are a potential target for Russian influence operations.  
• At a minimum, we expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople, and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States.”

The hearing included CIA Director Mike Pompeo, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers, Defense Intelligence Agency head Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, and head of the  National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Robert Cardillo.
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An article from National Public Radio summarized the hearing.

A link to the recording of the hearing can be found below.
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-hearing-worldwide-threats-hearing-1

The opening Statement for the Record of Director Coats can be read below.

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