{"id":71723,"date":"2024-10-31T22:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T22:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/10\/31\/rival-nations-try-to-divide-degrade-deceive-us-voters-experts-say\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:22:58","slug":"rival-nations-try-to-divide-degrade-deceive-us-voters-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/10\/31\/rival-nations-try-to-divide-degrade-deceive-us-voters-experts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Rival nations try to \u2018divide, degrade, deceive\u2019 US voters, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Russia, China and Iran view next week\u2019s presidential election as an opportunity to weaken American democracy by sowing doubt about the voting process and targeting one of the government\u2019s key tenets \u2014 the peaceful transition of power, several cybersecurity and military experts said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s election infrastructure is safe and secure, and voters should feel confident in the process, said Suzanne Spaulding, a former undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security who now works with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some foreign actors are trying to persuade voters to view the process as too corrupt to participate in, and these same actors will likely try to convince Americans after Election Day that the results were illegitimate, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2016, our assessment was that it would be extremely hard, virtually impossible, for an adversary to change votes or tallies in order to change the outcome of a national election,\u201d said Spaulding, who was working with DHS that year. \u201cI think that is only more true today. We\u2019ve gotten better at shoring up the cybersecurity of election infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaulding spoke Thursday on a panel hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a research group focusing on foreign policy and national security. Earlier this month, the group flagged an Iranian-linked website that was attempting to stir up antidemocratic sentiments among veteran voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t