Short-form insights and rapid-reaction analysis of breaking news and global events.
Overview On October 6, President Trump announced a U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria, leading to a week-long Turkish offensive against the Syrian Kurds. Since the announcement, Russian media and diplomats have doubled-down on their Syria coverage [...]
Last month, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released volume two of its investigation into Russian interference, which details an extensive campaign that aims to sow division and undermine American democracy via social media. One of [...]
Austrian voters delivered a heavy electoral blow to the Austrian far right Freedom Party (FPÖ) this weekend. According to the final result, the FPÖ ’s vote share dropped almost ten percentage points since elections last year. The FPÖ’s poor showing [...]
Overview The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has engaged in a prolonged effort to create a version of Russian history free “from internal contradictions and ambiguities.” But attempts to airbrush Russian history have recently become a messa [...]
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $250 million in funds to support state and local government efforts to strengthen election security ahead of the 2020 elections. The Committee’s action is an acknowledgment that securing electi [...]
In March, the European Union passed a regulation, the most binding legal instrument at its disposal, to strengthen foreign-investment screening processes throughout the union. The law came into force in April, and member states have until October 20 [...]
This article was originally published as a German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Take on August 22, 2019.  This weekend may be the first time in the history of the G7 that the group meets without agreeing on a joint statement. That’s partly because t [...]
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before congressional committees last week on the contents of his office’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, making the case that foreign interference is “among the most serious” thre [...]
With their new leadership selected, EU institutions have begun to outline their policy agendas for the coming years. European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the challenge of “external interference” in European democracie [...]
On July 7, Greeks voted in national elections to replace Alexis Tsipras and his ruling left-wing Syriza party with Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ right-wing New Democracy. Mitsotakis’ party platform promises to re-energize the Greek economy and attract new in [...]
The European Parliament has just confirmed Ursula von der Leyen as the President of the European Commission. Over the coming five years, she will be joined by a new team of EU leaders made up of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affai [...]
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 [...]
In February 2019, two Italian investigative journalists made an explosive revelation: Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right party La Lega and Italian interior minister, had sought financing from the Kremlin to the tune of millions of euros. That c [...]
On June 14, the European Commission released a report assessing the efficacy of the Action Plan against Disinformation and Elections Package in the context of the 2019 European Parliamentary elections. The report underscores Europe’s shifting postur [...]
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to discuss ways to combat kleptocracy through financial reforms such as beneficial ownership and money laundering. Beneficial ownership is particularly important because kleptocrats an [...]
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held its first hearing devoted to the national security implications of artificial intelligence in the information space last week. “For more than five centuries, authors have used variations of t [...]
Today, the Senate Banking Committee will hear outside perspectives on the collection of beneficial ownership information. This hearing is well-timed, as momentum is building in both the House and the Senate to outlaw anonymous shell companies. For e [...]
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence convened yesterday to discuss the challenges posed by AI-manipulated media, better known as deepfakes. There is finally some momentum to “do something” about deepfakes, but crucial misconceptions [...]
“No.” This was the one-word answer by a senior South Korean official, when asked directly if Beijing’s political interference was a threat to South Korean democracy. In multiple discussions held last week in Seoul, South Korean officials either disc [...]
Every Italian learns about Marco Polo, a young merchant who left his native Venice in 1271, travelled to China, and returned home twenty-four years later with riches and treasure. Today, Italy’s government is betting that moving closer to Beijing wi [...]
On Thursday, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will host a panel of experts to discuss the national security challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI), manipulated media, and “deepfake” technology. The committee will examin [...]
As results from last week’s European Parliament elections roll in, one thing is clear: traditional political parties that once commanded majorities across the Union’s member states suffered defeats of varying degrees of severity. Although not as mu [...]
Citizens of the European Union’s 28 member states go to the polls this week to choose their representatives to the European Parliament. Following Russian interference in several high-profile elections over the past three years, European governments [...]
Today, representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google, as well as several government officials, will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The hearing will serve as an opportunity for congressional leaders to gauge the gove [...]
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 [...]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report sheds new light on Russia’s sweeping campaign to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election. With only 18 months to go before Americans head back to the polls, here are 10 steps – developed and endorsed by a [...]
Special Counsel Mueller’s redacted report highlights the Russian government’s “sweeping and systematic interference” in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, through disinformation and hacking operations. Details of that effort were already known – t [...]
Brussels is an attractive target for authoritarian actors seeking to subvert European and transatlantic politics. Host to the headquarters of the EU, NATO, and Eurocontrol, the agency responsible for air-traffic control system for all 41 of its Euro [...]
“PICK A DAMN COUNTRY, AMERICA!” The video is short, digestible, and catchy. A young Twitter personality dives into the latest news from Venezuela while trendy music plays in the background. According to the video, President Donald Trump and his “rig [...]
Huawei, one of the world’s largest and most powerful telecommunications conglomerates, has had a difficult two months, facing a new wave of arrests and enforcement actions in countries in Europe and North America. In January, the Polish authorities [...]
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 [...]
The past year was a turbulent one for democracy in the transatlantic space. A rising tide of populism, nationalism, extremism, and illiberalism continued to upend politics. This affected elections in countries like Italy, where the ruling coalition [...]
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently agreed to remove sanctions against Oleg Deripaska’s EN+ Group. As a corollary, it will also remove from the sanctions list Rusal, which is one of the world’s largest alu [...]
From cabinet officials in the Trump administration to the social media platform companies, there has been widespread acknowledgement in the United States that the Russian government and other authoritarian states targeted the midterm elections and w [...]
In between bites of stuffing and potatoes this Thanksgiving, it is likely that “fake news” or “election meddling” may be mentioned at the table. Here is all you need to know so that you can hold your own in a discussion on influence operations with [...]
On October 26, Facebook announced that it removed “82 Pages, Groups, and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior” originating from Iran. The information operation targeted citizens of the United States and United Kingdom, often by creating fic [...]
Summary The Russian government’s active measures campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election was a watershed moment in the study of modern information operations. Revelations that the Kremlin had purchased divisive political ads on social [...]
Government officials and tech titans could be excused for breathing a huge, collective sigh of relief if next week’s midterms come to pass without evidence of widespread foreign manipulation. But if recent U.S. elections are any indication, the thre [...]
On October 19, the Department of Justice announced charges against Elena Khusyaynova, a St. Petersburg-based accountant, for working as part of a conspiracy to wage “information warfare against the United States of America.” According to the FBI, Kh [...]
On October 4, officials in the Netherlands and U.K. revealed a joint counterintelligence operation that led to the arrest and expulsion of four Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers in April for attempting to hack the Organization for the Pro [...]