Compiled by Athena Smith.
Articles
Julia Curlee** **argued that Moscow’s campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election was a major success, with Russia’s largest gains coming after the vote from the president it helped elect. Curlee described what is publicly known about the covert action operation and how the Biden and Trump presidencies have since approached the issue of foreign election influence. She recommended Congress create an election threats office with protected funding and a statutory mission, and warned that foreign interventions are more likely to succeed when beneficiaries have an incentive to hide them.
Moscow has also enjoyed payoffs beyond the original aims identified by the intelligence community, because the man it helped elect shared many of its preferences and worldview. Trump has been solicitous of Putin, despite opposition within his own party, hostile to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and skeptical of U.S. assistance to Kyiv in its war with Russia. Trump’s election and the fight over the Russia investigation have also deepened polarization in the U.S. and likely sapped Washington’s ability to keep its commitments to NATO and other allies.
The Insiders Know How Covert Foreign Malign Influence Works. You Should Too.
Katie Kedian laid out a two-part proposal to help Americans recognize covert foreign malign influence: an industry-supported clearinghouse that pools what technology companies and researchers see across platforms, and partnerships with trusted institutions, such as public libraries, to get that information to the public. Kedian explained that although this plan is not a substitute for government action and faces difficulties, tech companies already publicly report on the influence operations they detect and can provide a clearinghouse of data to ground media literacy efforts in knowledge of real influence operations.
The federal government remains indispensable for sanctions, indictments, domain seizures, and other disruptive actions, but those actions often come only after a foreign malign influence operation is well underway. Helping Americans recognize the tactics being used against them can begin much earlier. And, if doing so makes those tactics less effective in the first place, it could ultimately prove as important as the government’s after-the-fact disruptive actions.
Podcasts
Lawfare Daily: AI, Child Safety, and the Law:Renée DiResta sat down with Riana Pfefferkorn, and Cyndie Demeocq to discuss the guests’ new research into how existing federal criminal law applies to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated child sexual abuse material , what 71 federal prosecutions reveal about the legal issues created by generative AI, and more.
Rational Security: The “Snifting Up to Boston” Edition: Scott Anderson sat down with Benjamin Wittes, Ariane Tabatabai, and Joel Braunold to discuss next week’s Israeli election and what a new government could mean for Israel’s wars in the Middle East; the recent new lows reached in U.S.-Ukraine relations during the current Trump administration after Trump said he would ease U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel; and the current student protests across France.
Videos and Webinars
Lawfare Live** : The Trials of the Trump Administration, October 23:** On Friday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m. ET,
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