The 2020 presidential election cycle was abnormally long, with chaos, debate about the outcome, and an insurrection before it finally concluded—at least officially—on inauguration day in January 2021. Now just over a year later, the United States mu [...]
Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent, a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, and the author of Messing With The Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media W [...]
The Kremlin and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as constant critics of the United States, naturally converge in the information space. The themes and narratives they disseminate about the United States and Western democracies show remarkable cons [...]
What becomes of a Kremlin troll farm when its fake accounts are repeatedly taken down? It sheds its skin and morphs into something new, all while continuing its efforts to bend public opinion towards a Putinesque view of the world. Since its much-pu [...]
Covid-19 vaccines and “mask diplomacy” have been the centerpieces of many countries’ soft power strategies over the past year. Early in the pandemic, countries like Russia and China sought to use shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) and [...]
Every few years gives rise to a novel social media app that takes smartphone users by storm. Clubhouse, the invite-only, audio-based app that feels like TED Talks meets 1980s radio call-in show, has rapidly grown in recent months, offering a platfor [...]
In July 2020, fact-checking and news organizations across Europe and the United States picked up on an emerging disinformation campaign that alleged Ukrainian soldiers died after testing an experimental U.S. COVID-19 vaccine. The story, which was de [...]
There has been a sizable public- and private-sector effort to rid the United States’ social media ecosystem of Kremlin disinformation since Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. But what happens to one of those Russian outlets when so [...]
In his new YouTube series Trust But Verify, Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts looks at different parts of Russia's information manipulation operations and their impact on the United States. It’s now common knowledge that Russia has an interest in in [...]
In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews former FBI Special Agent Clint Watts, current Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Non-Resident Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democra [...]
Director Laura Rosenberger and Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts joined a panel entitled "Combatting Disinformation and Misinformation in Elections" at CISA's National Cybersecurity Summit with Alex Stamos, Jorhena Thomas, and Olivia Gazis. [...]
Clint Watts joined the Wilson Center's Nina Jankowicz to discuss the aims of Russian disinformation in the 2020 Election on MSNBC's Live with Ali Velshi. [...]
ASD Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts co-authored a piece on deepfakes and their impact on American democracy with Tim Hwang of the University of Texas at Austin in the Washington Post. [...]
ASD Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts joined Michael Waldman and Janai Nelson in a panel discussion on voting access and disinformation on NBC's Meet the Press. [...]
Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts identifies the central coronavirus conspiracy theories and outlines their sources. Read more here. [...]
When Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian began tweeting about the origins of the coronavirus in March, it marked a significant turning point in China’s social media disinformation operations. While China has long deployed widespread ce [...]
David Salvo and Clint Watts appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews to discuss U.S. officials’ fear of ransomware attacks on election infrastructure during the 2020 elections. [...]
Clint Watts is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terro [...]
ASD Non-resident Fellow Clint Watts discusses Russian cyber interference and the Internet Research Agency on the first episode of Lawfare's new Active Measures podcast. [...]
Clint Watts Distinguished Research Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute Non-Resident Fellow, Alliance For Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the United States Author, Messing With The Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hacker [...]
Clint Watts is Non-Resident Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of Messing With The Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terroris [...]
Clint Watts is Non-Resident Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of Messing With The Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorist [...]
Russia started it, but politicians will proliferate it. Online trolling could become a service for campaigns everywhere... Mark Zuckerberg heads to the nation’s capital this week for some lashings from America’s legislators. On Tuesday, he’ll appea [...]
Russia’s latest iteration of the Soviet-era tactic of “active measures” has mesmerized Western audiences and become the topic de jour for national security analysts. In my last post, I focused on the Kremlin’s campaign to influence the U.S. election [...]
Mr. Watts testified on March 30, 2017, at a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing and presented a statement, “Disinformation: A Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence Campaigns.” Last week, in a sentencing memorandum for the lawy [...]
The warnings are loud, clear, and unambiguous. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told us last week that Russia is attempting to “degrade our democratic values and weaken our alliances.” A few days later, after the Mueller indictment came d [...]
Americans continue to investigate, deliberate, and wallow in the aftermath of Russia’s rebirth of “Active Measures” designed to defeat their adversaries through the “force of politics rather than the politics of force.” Kremlin interference in the 2 [...]
Statement Prepared for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism A decade ago, al Qaeda in Iraq littered YouTube with violent videos. A few years later, Twitter became a playground for al Shabaab’s violent tir [...]