WASHINGTON — The U.S. government’s top counterintelligence official said Monday that he was concerned Russia or other foreign adversaries could exploit the chaos of the Iowa caucuses to sow distrust in the integrity of America’s elections.
“How can an adversary take what happened in Iowa and pour gasoline on it?” Bill Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told reporters at a briefing.
Evanina’s comments came as he unveiled a strategy document aimed at guiding the government’s national security priorities over the next two years. The document identifies the U.S. economy, infrastructure, democracy and supply chains as areas being routinely targeted by foreign governments and in need of heightened protection.
Election security, particularly combating foreign influence in U.S. politics, accounts for one of the counterintelligence community’s top priorities as voters head to the polls this year.
A malfunctioning app used by the Iowa Democratic Party caused a delay in the reporting of caucus results last week and fueled calls for a recanvassing. Because of the delay and after observing irregularities in the results once they did arrive, The Associated Press says it cannot declare a winner.
Though state and federal officials say there are no signs the system was hacked, Evanina said he was concerned disinformation spread by bots and social media — and even advanced by misinformed Americans — could dissuade Americans from casting ballots and feed a narrative that the election process can’t be trusted.
The U.S. is on alert for interference in the current presidential election. In 2016, Russia relied on a covert social media campaign to divide American public opinion on hot-button social issues and also hacked emails from Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign that were then released by WikiLeaks to help the successful campaign of Republican Donald Trump.
Asked how Russia might interfere in the 2020 election, Evanina said, “My concern is the unknown.” He said the government had to be prepared for everything.
