United States – The US regards a rising threat of Russia, Iran & China seeking to meddle in the October 5 elections through AI-spread conspiracy and false information, as stated in the treasury calendar year threat catalog published on Wednesday.
Russian Influence Operations
The Homeland Security report says that Russian ‘influence actors’ have sought to exacerbate division on the issue of migrants coming into the US and have used generative AI to post false news on websites that looked like real US news sites, as reported by Reuters.
Iranian and Chinese Activities
Iran has emerged as “more assertive in overseas influence operations,” the report added. For instance, al-Iranian actors staged themselves as activists on social media to incite protest over the situation in Gaza, according to DHS.
America is preparing for a very tight Presidential race between Kamala Harris, a Democratic party member and former President of the United States, Donald Trump, a Republican party member that may make partisanship even worse and provide enemy countries with chances to attempt to sabotage democracy.
In the assessment, the DHS indicates Russia, Iran, and China “will employ sowing influence, general ‘gray zone’ activities, physical destruction, criminal activities, and pressure to find new ways of challenging the credibility of United States political institutions as well as societal stability.
Domestic Extremism Threats
Another major threat, domestic violent extremists, are also mentioned in the report. Trump already has been featured in two attempted assassination scenarios.
The report said it expects domestic extremists to try to engage in acts of violence with the purpose of provoking fear among voters, candidates, and election workers and hindering the processes of elections, as reported by Reuters.
Regarding those actors, individual actors, lone offenders, or small cells with grievances such as race, religion or sex, or anti-government sentiment are the most dangerous, the report stated.