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 Europe needs a continent-wide buy-in on a new strategic approach to tackling authoritarian interference, ASD argues in a comprehensive report that details European efforts to defend against such threats and identifies specific, actionable [...]
Online Harms White Paper: Open Consultation Submission to the U.K. Parliament
The following is an introduction to the submission by ASD Intern Amber Frankland In April 2019, the United Kingdom’s Home Office published its Online Harms White Paper, which proposed a regulatory framework designed to address the prevalence of “il [...]
The ASD European Policy Blueprint For Countering Authoritarian Interference in Democracies
Executive Summary In recent years, European democracy has been shaken by internal and external events. European nations and institutions are confronting numerous challenges like migration, nationalist extremism, and discontent with the political s [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Our Take Partisan politics stands in the way of implementing many commonsense measures to address foreign interference in U.S. democratic processes, ASD Deputy Director Dave Salvo argues in an op-ed for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Disinformation su [...]
EU Election Postmortem: Lessons Learned for Both Sides of the Atlantic
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 [...]
Questions Lawmakers Should Ask at the June 19th Hearing on Kleptocracy
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 [...]
What Congress Got Right and What it Overlooked at Last Week’s Deepfakes Hearing
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 [...]
Questions Lawmakers Should Ask at the June 20th Hearing on Beneficial Ownership
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 [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Our Take AI-powered systems generate modified content and advance digital forgeries that are harmful to American interests, said ASD Non-Resident Senior Fellow Clint Watts testifying before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The [...]
Deepfake Myths: Common Misconceptions About Synthetic Media
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 [...]
Clint Watts Testifies Before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: AI and Deepfakes
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 [...]
In Addressing PRC Interference, South Korea Plays Delicate Geopolitical Game
“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 [...]