Short-form insights and rapid-reaction analysis of breaking news and global events.
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 [...]
The European Union fears that foreign interference could mar the European Parliament elections in May 2019, but leaders have thus far failed to address a major vulnerability, namely that foreign money can flow unimpeded into campaigns in a number of [...]
In July, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Ivan Savvidi, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, was actively funding politicians and protestors in Macedonia to spark unrest over the country’s Sept [...]
The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service announced on September 4 that ING Bank, the country’s largest financial institution, had reached a settlement worth the equivalent of $900 million for money laundering violations committed between 20 [...]
Since early 2017, the Swedish government has been training citizens, media, and civil services to be on alert for foreign influence operations, especially from the Russian government, aimed at undermining the September 9 parliamentary elections. Thi [...]
With only two months until the November midterms, Silicon Valley’s efforts to secure our elections from authoritarian interference have been more talk than action. Recent steps by several tech companies to uncover and expose interference operations [...]
The United States is the single largest recipient of foreign investment worldwide. This openness reflects the country’s innovative industries, deep capital markets, and ease of doing business – and it also contributes to making them possible. At the [...]
Thank you Chairman Burr, Vice Chairman Warner, and Distinguished Members of the Committee. I submitted my full statement for the record, but let me highlight key points on the national security context of these activities and steps we need to take [...]
ASD Director Laura Rosenberger testified at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's hearing about "Foreign Influence Operations and their use of Social Media" on August 1, 2018. Rosenberger's complete written statement that was submitted to t [...]
WASHINGTON, DC — In The Federalist 68, Alexander Hamilton described “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils,” as “one of the most deadly adversaries of republican government.” As President Trump meets with Russian [...]
Introduction In Nicosia, regulators last month imposed a modest fine on a minor bank for technical violations of anti-money laundering rules. In Moscow, the former owner of that Nicosia bank sits in prison for his alleged role in one of the largest [...]
The Senate passed the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday. While the bill made advancements in our military cyber-capabilities and deterrence against foreign cyber operations, it lacks significant improvements to cybersecurity f [...]
On June 18, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee releasedaround 1,100 names of Twitter accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which is the official name of the Russian troll farm indictedby Special Counsel Robert Mueller for [...]
The Kremlin has launched a resurgent effort to solidify its control over Bulgaria’s energy sector. On May 30, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to establish Bulgaria as a second point of en [...]
On May 24, an international team of investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, and Ukraine announced that a Russian anti-aircraft missile was directly responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). The following da [...]
In response to the recent threat of U.S. sanctions on entities involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Germany and Russia, German Economic Minister Peter Altmaier claimed the United States simply wants a bigger slice of the European energ [...]
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 [...]
Last week, the Democrats of the House Intelligence Committee released the trove of over 3,500 Facebook ads purchased by the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) from 2015 to 2017. For the most part, the release confirms what we alread [...]
On May 3, the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, announced that the U.S. State Department had suspended funding for the group, stating that the support is “under active review.” The White Helmets are Syrian volunteer rescue workers th [...]
As the United States, Britain, and France launched targeted airstrikes against suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria on April 13, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis predicted that there would be “a significant disinformation campaign over th [...]
The European Commission published a communication on April 26 to the European Council and Parliament outlining the “European Approach” to combatting disinformation. The Commission’s report was the result of a several month process including consulta [...]
Trillions of dollars in capital flows into the United States annually, and trillions of dollars in payments are cleared through New York daily. No one knows exactly whom the funds belong to, where they are held, or how they are deployed. No one know [...]
Russian influence operations exploit the vulnerabilities of social media platforms to disseminate false narratives and amplify divisive content in order to undermine democracies, divide societies, and weaken Western alliances. In conducting these o [...]
In freezing the assets of seven Russian oligarchs on April 6 under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act and other Russia sanctions authorities, the U.S. government went after individuals with a sizeable economic footprint in th [...]
WASHINGTON, DC — The coordinated moves last week by 27 countries as well as NATO to expel over 150 undeclared Russian intelligence agents from their soil sent a loud and clear message — this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. The response was n [...]
Estonia’s financial regulator, Finantsinspektsioon, announced on March 26 that the European Central Bank (ECB), acting at Estonia’s request, had revoked the license of Versobank AS, a small Estonian bank catering to clients based in Russia and Ukrai [...]
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 [...]
On Wednesday, the Alliance for Securing Democracy hosted U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), U.S. Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX), and former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff for a discussion of Russia’s continued assault on democracies [...]
Editor’s Note: The German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy recently hosted a discussion on Responding to Russia’s Attacks on Democracy featuring Senator Ben Cardin, Congressman Will Hurd, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Mich [...]
Want to combat disinformation? Borrow a page from the anti-money laundering handbook. Russia’s ability to successfully conduct hybrid warfare is predicated on the creation of a fog of ambiguity between the Kremlin’s actions and the Kremlin itself. [...]
Russia’s ongoing effort to destroy faith in democracy is not only a problem for the United States and Europe. The Kremlin has set its sights on destabilizing next year’s Mexican and Colombian elections — even capturing the attention of National Secu [...]