American intelligence agencies recently issued a statement warning of Russian actors pursuing “additional influence operations” to affect the impending election on Tuesday.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) posted the most recent information on its website on Monday evening. The ODNI spoke on behalf of the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) about the most recent intelligence findings.
Last week, officials said they saw Russian actors create and disseminate a phony film showing people voting unlawfully, as well as a video accusing a lawmaker of accepting bribes. Since then, the United States Intelligence Community (IC) has seen Russia and other foreign enemies “conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans.”
“The IC expects these activities will intensify through election day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states,” according to the announcement.
According to the ODNI, Russia is the “most active threat” among all foreign enemies attempting to influence the election.
“Influence actors linked to Russia in particular are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences, judging from information available to the IC,” according to the ODNI. “These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.”
“We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close.”
In recent days, Russian actors published an article reporting on bogus plans for swing state officials to arrange election fraud, as well as a recent video that “falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona.”
Officials also suspect that Iranian actors may be interfering in the election and spreading fake information, as they have in the past. The meddlers may plan “to create fake media content intended to suppress voting or stoke violence, as they have done in past election cycles,” according to the ODNI.
The FBI invites anyone who sees suspicious or criminal conduct to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Cyber incidents affecting election infrastructure can be reported to the CISA at 1-844-SAY-CISA.
The report comes fewer than 24 hours before voting begins on November 5, in what is likely to be a close race between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. Swing states across the country have been on the lookout for fraudulent ballots.
On Monday, the chair of a Pennsylvania county election board revealed that he had discovered 2,500 suspect registration and mail-in ballot applications. At least 17 percent of the applications were fake.