ASD contributes long and short form research products and analysis to inform and engage our audience on a range of issues related to malign foreign interference. In addition, we develop policy recommendations and strategies to close vulnerabilities and safeguard institutions from authoritarian threats.
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Our Take This summer, ASD convened a group of experts for a simulation to assess how government, social media platforms, and campaigns’ policies and practices have adapted to face foreign interference since 2016. The exercise revealed that while si [...]
Leaks, Lies, and Altered Tape: Russia’s Maturing Information Manipulation Playbook
Russia’s disinformation tactics, techniques, and procedures are evolving. Stakeholders of all types—journalists, regulators, and researchers—must see the full picture of Russian activity as it is changing to anticipate what might be to come. Intro [...]
October Surprise: Simulating a Foreign Interference Crisis on the Eve of the 2020 Election
Executive Summary The United States, like many other democracies, faces concerted and sophisticated operations aimed at disrupting, delegitimizing, and in some cases altering the outcomes of its elections. While foreign interference operations are [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements Is the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran working? Tune in for GMF’s 30-minute live snap debate with Richard Nephew and Mark Dubowitz, moderated by ASD Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai, on Thursday, October 15 [...]
Debating the Debates: How Russian, Chinese, and Iranian State-Backed Media Covered the U.S. First Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates
Overview On September 29, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden sparred in the first of three (now two) presidential debates. The event, which was labelled a “debacle” and a “total disaster” by the U.S. news media, unsurprisingl [...]
Cyberattacks, Foreign Interference, and Digital Infrastructure: Conducting Secure Elections Amid a Pandemic
ASD’s Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ Director for Europe and Eurasia Beata Martin-Rozumilowicz provide a guide to help election officials in the United States and Europe conduct secur [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements Please join GMF for a virtual discussion with U.S. election officials on preparations different states are making to mitigate election security risks on Monday, October 12, at 10:00am EDT/4:00pm CEST. Register here. Our Take Malign [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements Join us on Thursday, October 1 at 10:00am EDT/4:00pm CEST/5:00pm EEST for an interactive, virtual discussion on the threat malign financial activity poses to democracies across the transatlantic space, co-hosted by the European Centre [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements Join us on Thursday, October 1 at 10:00am EDT/4:00pm CEST/5:00pm EEST for an interactive, virtual discussion on the threat malign financial activity poses to democracies across the transatlantic space, co-hosted by the European Centre [...]
Prospects for European and U.S. Policy toward Iran
This policy paper was co-authored with Edgar P. Tam, visiting senior fellow at the Paris Office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Please click the link at the right to view the full paper. President Donald Trump’s views on Iran hav [...]
Virtual Event Invitation: Follow the Money: Understanding the Threat Covert Foreign Financing Poses to Democracies
Thursday, October 1, 2020 | 10:00am-11:00am EDT / 4:00pm-5:00pm CEST / 5:00pm-6:00pm EEST Register here. Please join the Alliance for Securing Democracy and the European Centre of Excellence on Hybrid Threats in Helsinki for a virtual, interactive [...]
Iran’s Authoritarian Playbook: The Tactics, Doctrine, and Objectives behind Iran’s Influence Operations
Introduction According to a 2013 indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice, hackers backed by a foreign power gained access to the controls of the Bowman Avenue Dam, a small dam in the New York City suburb of Rye, New York. Cyberattacks on inf [...]