Committee print
Download 0.63 Mb. View original pdf
|
| Street Journal, Feb. 17, 2017. 197 Ibid. 198 Last year, the European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing the wide range of tools and instruments that Russia uses to disseminate disinformation and propaganda. See European Parliament Resolution, EU Strategic Communication to Counteract Anti-EU Propaganda by Third Parties 2016/2030(INI), Nov. 23, 2016. Mark Galeotti, Controlling Chaos How Russia Manages its Political War in Europe, Euro- pean Council on Foreign Relations, at 1 (Aug. 2017). Committee Staff Discussion with Russian Human Rights Activists, May 2017. backed Christian Peace Conference to influence American churches, religious organizations, and religious leaders. 195 Soviet active measures also attempted to influence elections in the West during the Cold War, though without much success. Efforts to defeat Chancellor Helmut Kohl in West Germany’s 1983 election included a massive propaganda campaign of interference according to the German government at the time. That same year, KGB agents in the United States were ordered to acquire contacts on the staff of all possible presidential candidates and in both party headquarters . . . and to popularize the slogan Reagan Means War The KGB’s efforts notwithstanding, Reagan won 49 of 50 states in the 1984 election. Disinformation campaigns also smeared FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Henry Scoop Jackson, both implacable anticommunists, with rumors to the media about their sexual orientation—a tactic that would resurface many decades later during the 2017 French presidential campaign. 197 MODERN MALIGN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS Today, the Kremlin’s malign influence operations employ state and non-state resources to achieve their ends, including the security services, television stations and pseudo newsagencies, social media and internet trolls, public and private companies, organized crime groups, think tanks and special foundations, and social and religious groups. 198 These efforts have weaponized four spheres of activity traditional and social media, ideology and culture, crime and corruption, and energy. Disinformation campaigns are used to discredit politicians and democratic institutions like elections and independent media. Cultural, religious, and political organizations are used to repeat the Kremlin’s narrative of the day and disrupt social cohesion. Corruption is used to influence politicians and infiltrate decision- making bodies. And energy resources are used to cajole and coerce vulnerable foreign governments. The Kremlin coordinates these multi-platform efforts from within the Presidential Administration, which controls the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), among many other agencies, and is described by observers as perhaps the most important single organ within Russia’s highly de-institutionalized state.’’ 199 While the Russian government supplies many of the resources for these efforts, Kremlin-linked oligarchs are also believed to help fund malign influence operations in Europe. 200 Furthermore, the Kremlin’s efforts attempt to exploit the advantages of democratic societies. As the former president of Estonia VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. 9 REPORT FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER 38 201 Sheera Frenkel, The New Handbook for Cyberwar Is Being Written By Russia BuzzFeed News, Mar. 19, 2017 (citing former Estonian President Toomas Hendrick Ilves). Director of National Intelligence, Assessment on Funding of Political Parties and Nongovernmental Organizations by the Russian Federation, pursuant to the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY, (PL. No. 114-113). US. Department of State, Report to Congress on Efforts by the Russian Federation to Undermine Elections in Europe and Eurasia, Pursuant to the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act of 2017 (PL. 115-44), Nov. 7, 2017. 204 Oren Dorell, Alleged Russian Political Meddling Documented in 27 Countries Since 2004,’’ Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
|