Intelligence and National Security officials have recently declared that Russia will display a “pervasive campaign” to influence voters in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. They are currently working with other White House departments to prevent the coming meddling.
Intelligence Director Dan Coats spoke with reporters on Thursday after talks with president Trump about interference. He stated:
“The intelligence community continues to be concerned, both about the midterms and the 2020 presidential elections. We continue to see a pervasive campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States. We also know the Russians have tried to hack into and steal information from candidates and government officials alike … The president has specifically directed us to make the matter of election meddling a top priority and we are doing that.”
He also hinted at the fact that maybe Russian officials aren’t the only threat to these coming elections, as other people who have information could be planning “malicious activities”.
Coats’ relationship with the White House has not been the best during this past couple of weeks. This was best displayed when he found out about a future meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a live televised interview. His reaction was filled with shock and concern, although he attempted to contain his feelings and appear as neutral as possible.
His intelligence agency was also in conflict with the President in the aftermath of the Trump-Putin summit, where the former apparently dismissed the claims made by American intelligence. Although the president then attempted to soften his rhetoric towards the agency, he quickly dismissed that approach and continued dismissing the accusations of collusion with Russia.
Although the White House is currently supporting these efforts to stop meddling, they have not released a lot of specific information about their actions yet. For example, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders refused to clarify whether the Russian social media campaigns were aimed to hurt a certain party or not.
Government officials from different departments across the country are currently working in giving more strength to election infrastructure and helping its employees to approach cyber-attacks with effective measures.
Featured image via President of Russia
