Russia remains ‘active threat’ in influencing 2024 election, likely to focus on swing states: US officials

American intelligence officials released a recent statement warning about Russian actors conducting ‘additional influence operations’ to impact the upcoming election on Tuesday.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published the latest update on its website on Monday evening. Speaking on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the ODNI detailed the latest intelligence findings.

Last week, officials said that they observed Russian actors creating and disseminating a fake video that showed individuals voting illegally, and a video accusing a politician of taking a bribe. Since then, the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) has observed Russia and other foreign adversaries ‘conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans.’

‘The IC expects these activities will intensify through election day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states,’ the statement read.

Of all the foreign adversaries seeking to impact the election, the ODNI said that Russia ‘is the most active threat.’

‘Influence actors linked to Russia in particular are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences, judging from information available to the IC,’ the ODNI continued. ‘These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.’

‘We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close.’

In recent days, Russian actors created an article reporting about false plans for swing state officials to orchestrate election fraud, and also made a recent video that ‘falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona.

Officials also believe that Iranian actors may be meddling with the election and disseminating false information, as they have done in the past. The meddlers may intend ‘to create fake media content intended to suppress voting or stoke violence, as they have done in past election cycles,’ the ODNI noted.

The FBI encourages anyone who observes suspicious or criminal activity to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Cyber incidents impacting election infrastructure can be reported to the CISA through the number 1-844-SAY-CISA.

The report came less than 24 hours before polls are set to open on Nov. 5, in what is expected to be a toss-up election between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. Swing states across the country have been on the lookout for fake ballots.

On Monday, the chair of a Pennsylvania county election board announced that he had found 2,500 suspicious registration and mail-in ballot applications. At least 17% of the applications were fraudulent.