Foreign efforts to interfere in the 2022 US midterm elections appeared to intensify compared to 2018, according to a declassified intelligence report.
The assessment, released Monday, cited a “diverse and growing group of foreign actors,” including China, Russia, Iran and Cuba.
According to the report, there is strong evidence that China “approved efforts to try to influence a handful of midterm races” involving candidates from both sides of the aisle.
It was likely part of a series of directives from Chinese Communist Party leaders to “intensify efforts to influence US policy and public opinion in China's favor,” which has been underway since 2020, the report said. judgement.
China redoubled its efforts to divide rival parties in the United States, but focused most on a few specific candidates, the assessment said.
A declassified intelligence report shows that foreign actors have increased their efforts to interfere in the 2022 midterm elections compared to 2018 (Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping)
The report referred to a 'diverse and growing group of foreign actors', including China and Russia (photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin)
Other countries mentioned were Cuba (left: President Miguel Díaz-Canel) and Iran (right: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei)
None of the Chinese-backed candidates have been named.
Support for or opposition to candidates was based on whether Beijing thought their policy positions were in its favor.
The report said Beijing has “repeatedly instructed officials to focus on this.” Congress,” which was seen as “a place of anti-China activity.”
Intelligence officials believe Beijing saw the midterm elections as an opportunity to portray American democracy as “chaotic, ineffective and unrepresentative.”
As a result, messages from the People's Republic of China focused on divisions over current issues in the United States, including abortion and gun control.
The report did not look at the impact campaigns may have had on the 2022 midterm elections.
Russia specifically tried “to denigrate the Democratic Party before the midterm elections and undermine confidence in the elections,” the assessment said.
The intelligence community strongly suspected that this was an attempt to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine.
As part of these efforts, the Kremlin has “conducted extensive research and analysis of the American public,” identifying demographic and social media platforms that could most effectively amplify Russian propaganda.
These audiences included “American constituencies that they believed were more sympathetic to Russia's emphasis on 'traditional values,'” the report said.
The intelligence community confirmed that Russian military officials had proposed delaying their withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson until the day after the 2022 midterm elections “to prevent a named US political party from achieving a perceived victory before the elections.”
Russia also sought to weaken confidence in the democratic process by casting doubt on the integrity of the midterm elections, the report concluded.
This included claims that voting software was vulnerable to attack, Americans expected cheating to influence the election, and the belief that “the Democrats would steal the election.”
According to the assessment, Beijing may have seen the midterm elections as an opportunity to portray American democracy as “chaotic, ineffective and unrepresentative.”
The Kremlin identified demographic and social media platforms that would most effectively amplify Russian propaganda, the report said
In general, foreign actors have eschewed manipulating actual votes in favor of damaging public perceptions of the validity of election results.
The assessment found that there was no known order from any leader to “undertake a comprehensive government-wide influence campaign,” such as Putin's “Project Lakhta” in 2016.
The report details Iranian interference in the congressional elections and concludes that Tehran is seeking to exploit perceived social divisions and undermine confidence in democracy.
However, these efforts have been limited by competing priorities, including the need to manage ongoing unrest and protests in the country.
The intelligence community also observed how countries like Cuba targeted certain candidates based on their willingness to promote policies aligned with that country's interests.
Overall, the report found that foreign actors have shied away from manipulating actual votes in favor of influencing elections by damaging public perceptions of the validity of their results.
The findings showed that there was no known order from any leader to “undertake a comprehensive, government-wide influence campaign” such as Russia's 2016 effort.