Ever since the Russia Hoax in 2016, we have been hearing nonstop about foreign meddling in United States elections. From worries they will stuff the ballot box, to intelligence officials warning of them causing post-election violence, it seems to be a topic every single cycle. Well, welcome to the end of 2024, and it is once again a topic of worry for intelligence officials.
They warned recently that our adversaries, like Russia, China, and Iran, may try to invoke post-election violence next week, and conduct disinformation operations to create uncertainty.
National Security Analyst Ed Turzanski says though, this is just another 'the sky is falling' Chicken Little moment from them.
"What they have said in the past has been overstated...and also inaccurate," he says.
Russia is the first thing that comes to mind. They swore up and down that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 due to foreign meddling in the election, which was proven to be false. In 2020, they claimed the same thing, that Russia, China, and Iran all interfered using different tactics.
Both times, they were wrong. 2016 was a hoax, and 2020, there was serious doubt on the results of the election due to questionable ballot counting policies, and not foreign influence.
But for the countries themselves, it is not so much about influencing the outcome, if they do anything at all. It is more about blinding the people.
"They want to add to a lack of public confidence in our election, and government...but we have to recognize that there are things we could, and should, be doing to make sure people have confidence in elections, and we are not" he says.
The intelligence community also says that the countries have 'learned from past elections,' and are better equipped to cause chaos now. According to them, that would include post-vote claims of irregularities and may also conduct cyber-attacks to spread disinformation.
All of it is aimed though at trying to sway our confidence in our elections, which is already at all-time lows because of things like the 2020 election. But in all reality, this would not be a problem if we just had some election integrity.
"We need to fix the way we do elections, so we can find out within hours of polls closing, how many votes have been cast, and for whom," says Turzanski.
They have been wrong so many times yet continue chirping the same tune. It is to the point now where the intelligence community is the boy who cried wolf.
"One of these days, they will be right...and people will not believe them because they were wrong too many times," he says.
Whether they are right or not this time remains to be seen. But until the wolf actually shows up, we (the villagers) will just keep getting angry and going back to bed.
Photo: SULLIVAN, JON (uploader)