The Russia connectionBroad action required to combat disinformation on social media: Experts
The business model of American social media allows foreign adversaries to exploit our open society by spreading disinformation and amplifying disagreements, turning citizens against one another, speakers said at a Princeton University forum. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, said that taken as a whole, the cyberattacks during the 2016 presidential election have a lot in common with 9/11 — an attack from an unexpected direction, exploiting a previously unknown weakness. The nation rallied in response to the 2001 attacks in large part because President George W. Bush set the tone, he said. “We gotta go extraordinary,” Hayden said about the cyberattacks. “We as a nation don’t go extraordinary unless the president says ‘do it’,” and so far, that hasn’t happened, Hayden said.
Robert Mueller’s recent indictment of 13 Russians and their “troll farm” has given us a clearer view of what an adversary can do with disinformation. Yet, just a few weeks ago, Adm. Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, testified before lawmakers that while the United States is taking steps against Russian interference, “we’re probably not doing enough,” and are not prepared to withstand another assault during the 2018 elections.
While propaganda is hardly a new tactic of war, technology has made it easier, faster and more effective. Defending America’s democracy from the dissemination of fake news and disinformation through traditional and social media is a top concern for today’s policymakers.
The business model of American social media allows foreign adversaries to exploit our open society by spreading disinformation and amplifying disagreements, turning citizens against one another, speakers said at a Princeton University forum on Saturday a week ago.
Although the cyberattacks during the 2016 presidential election came from abroad, “Fundamentally, the risk is internal,” said Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. Russia, he said, has used our nearly limitless social media platforms to exploit our national divisions and the trend in American culture to rely more on emotion than fact.
“It should not be that easy for the Russians to do what they’re doing to us,” Hayden said.
Princeton hosted the 7 April forum “Defending Democracy: Civil and Military Responses to Weaponized Information.” The forum focused on rethinking the definition and scope of national defense to encompass cyberattacks and information warfare. It was the fourth annual Veterans Summit, hosted in previous years by Yale University and the U.S. Military Academy.
