US cyberdefense agency warns of 'fire hose' of disinformation about the election

WASHINGTON — The head of the nation’s cyberdefense agency said Monday there is no way a technical hack could change the final outcome of the presidential race, but Americans are facing a “fire hose” of disinformation leading into Election Day.

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said there’s been an “unprecedented amount” of false information this election cycle, including content peddled by foreign adversaries aimed at undermining American democracy and pitting citizens against each other.

“We cannot allow our foreign adversaries to have a vote in our democracy,” Easterly told reporters on a media call.

A malign actor would not be able to have a material impact on the outcome of the presidential election by manipulating the voting system, thanks to layers of safeguards such as physical access controls, preelection equipment testing and post-election audits, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors said Monday their members and colleagues at the local level have devoted “extensive time, energy and resources” to safeguarding elections.

“Planning for tomorrow’s election began four years ago, and the election community is prepared,” according to a statement from the groups.

On the eve of a contentious presidential election, the officials are seeking to bolster public confidence during an election cycle marked by a whirlwind of misinformation.

U.S. government officials have sought to ramp up transparency and call out disinformation from foreign powers in a bid to blunt its impact, a turnaround from their approach eight years ago when Russian influence efforts sought to boost Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential run.

Meanwhile, Trump, the Republican nominee, has repeatedly sought to undermine confidence in the election process with baseless claims of voter fraud, a tactic he has used in the past.

Asked about false claims from Trump, Easterly praised freedom of speech and avoided addressing his specific claims, but said it’s “very irresponsible” for people in positions of influence to be spreading inaccurate information about U.S. elections.

U.S. intelligence officials have spent the final weeks before the election debunking specific cases of disinformation.

Over the weekend, the FBI reported that a video claiming the agency apprehended three groups committing ballot fraud was false, as was a second video related to second gentleman Douglas Emhoff.

“These videos are not authentic, are not from the FBI, and the content they depict is false,” according to an agency statement on social media.

“Attempts to deceive the public with false content about FBI operations undermines our democratic process and aims to erode trust in the electoral system,” the FBI said.

In another example, the intelligence community assessed that Russian actors had produced and amplified a video that falsely shows a person ripping up ballots in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

And intelligence community officials reported that Russian actors were behind a false video that showed people “claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia.”

The analysis was based on information available to the intelligence community and “prior activities of other Russian influence actors,” according to the joint statement by CISA, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in a statement last week, said a video purported to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia identifications who claimed to vote multiple times.

Raffensperger described the video as false. “It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the 2024 Presidential election,” he said.