Former CISA Chief Warns of Foreign and Domestic Interference in 2024 Election

The Growing Threats of Foreign and Domestic Meddling in 2024 Presidential Race

The former director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Chris Krebs warned that the 2024 presidential election would be more active for foreign and domestic meddling than the 2020 election. According to Krebs, he expects countries such as Russia, China, and Iran to try to influence the election, given increased geopolitical tensions and motivation for foreign actors to disrupt or shape public opinion. Krebs explained that foreign meddling could come in two forms, influence, shaping public opinion, or interference, attacking election infrastructure. He confirmed that the 2024 election would have a very active threat landscape since domestic groups have also started adopting the playbooks of foreign adversaries.

Foreign Interference

Krebs warned that throughout the 2024 presidential election, foreign adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran would likely meddle in the election. He pointed out that Russia’s failed military campaign in Ukraine might make the country interfere with the next US election and cause trouble. Given increased geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing, Krebs believes that China could reengage in influence operations as well. Iran was actively involved in the 2020 presidential election and could take another shot at it. Krebs stated that he expects the foreign actors to disrupt the election in various ways, influencing public opinion, or attacking election infrastructure.

Domestic Interference

Krebs also pointed out the rise of domestic interference in the upcoming presidential election, ranging from political action committees to militia groups. According to him, domestic actors are now adopting the playbooks of foreign adversaries. Following the 2020 presidential election, Krebs’ agency was responsible for overseeing election security issues and released a statement attesting to the integrity of the election results. However, this statement angered the then-President Donald Trump, who fired Krebs from his position five days after his statement. Krebs added that domestic actors could use some of the tactics foreign groups presently use to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.

The Greatest Threat to the 2024 Election

Chris Krebs warned that among the violent threats, the poll workers, who have received widespread conspiracy theories on the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, leaving their jobs would pose a significant threat to the 2024 presidential election. Krebs would want to avoid imagining what kind of messaging the former president, Donald Trump, will adopt regarding the integrity of the 2024 election.

The Investigation into Krebs’ Firing

Recently, Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, subpoenaed Trump administration officials involved in Krebs’ firing from his position leading CISA. Prosecutors in Smith’s office are examining efforts from Trump aides to test government officials’ loyalty to the President. Krebs has testified before the inquiry, according to the New York Times.

Editorial

The warning of the former head of the CISA, Chris Krebs, about the growing threat of foreign and domestic meddling in the 2024 presidential election is grave. Krebs mentioned that foreign interference can make a disruption, which could involve attacking election infrastructure or influencing public opinion. Domestic interference, on the other hand, ranges from political action committees to militia groups. Unfortunately, given the current political divide in the country, Krebs’ forecasts could be accurate. Rising partisanism can weaken our election security, and thus the 2024 presidential election’s integrity can be doubtful.

Advice

To mitigate the risks of foreign and domestic meddling, the Biden administration can take these steps:

• Strengthen the agency responsible for election security, CISA, to ensure it has the necessary resources and independence to ensure security measures are in place.
• Create a National Commission to examine the integrity of the 2024 presidential election, to rebuild the public’s trust in the system.
• Ensure that poll workers receive adequate training, and to protect them from violent threats in the course of their work.
• Encourage social media platforms to eliminate false news on their platforms that could affect public opinion and voting outcomes.
• Deploy state-of-the-art monitoring tools, such as artificial intelligence, to track disinformation campaigns and identify potential attacks that could pose a risk to the integrity of the election.

The tasks to improve the integrity of the presidential elections could indeed be daunting. However, with the collective effort of the government and the public, the integrity of the 2024 presidential election can be guaranteed.