Washington – The United States is guarding itself against interference from Russia, China and Iran in the upcoming 2020 elections, seven government agencies including the the FBI and the NSA said in a statement on Tuesday.
There will be an unprecedented level of coordination between all 50 states and U.S territories to ensure election security, the statement said.
“Our adversaries want to undermine our democratic institutions, influence public sentiment and affect government policies.
“Russia, China, Iran, and other foreign malicious actors all will seek to interfere in the voting process or influence voter perceptions.’’
Social media campaigns, disinformation campaigns, and cyber-attacks on state and local infrastructure are all possible ways that could be used to interfere, the statement added.
There is no evidence so far that the voting infrastructure has been compromised to tamper with votes, the statement added, while asking Americans to report any suspicious activity.
The statement was released by the FBI, NSA, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
A report by Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to probe election meddling into the 2016 presidential election, determined after a lengthy investigation that Russia did interfere in a manner aimed at helping elect Donald Trump.
The statement comes after Facebook unveiled measures aimed at preventing interference.
The social media site has admitted that Russian-backed actors were able to exploit the platform to reach 126 million Americans during the previous election.
