On Thursday, July 25, Congressman Brad Wenstrup (OH-02), member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Senator Mark Warner (Va.), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, participated in a series of fireside chats on“Foreign Influence Operations and American Elections: Risks and Responses” hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s Center on Civility and Democracy in coordination with Freedom House.
Click here or on the image above to view Congressman Wenstrup’s discussion.
Click here or on the image above to view Senator Warner’s discussion.
Following the lawmakers’respective discussions with Fred Ryan, Chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, the event continued with a panel featuring academic experts and industry leaders.
Foreign influence threats by authoritarian regimes to the U.S. electoral process
What concrete actions our leaders can take to counter false and misleading information in the lead-up to November and beyond
“Too many things get put out as matter of fact, even amongst politicians, so I think we have to be cautious about that.” – Congressman Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M.
Notable Quotes
“We live in a world with adversaries that are always trying to do something. I think that there are several things that we as individual politicians can do. And that’s to be able to get out there and really just speak honestly. We need to be focusing on policy differences, not personality differences. Not accusing people of things that they may or maybe did not do. But just be able to stick to the facts so the American people can consume and make decisions.”
– Congressman Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M.
“We’re not as prepared in 2024 as we were in 2020 under President Trump. And the reasons for that were, one: The power of AI. Its scale and speed can spread disinformation at an exponentially rapid rate. Two: Foreign adversaries know disinformation is cheap, and it works…Third: Americans believe a lot more crazy stuff.”
– Senator Mark Warner
“Since 2016, the thing that I am most worried about is that our reaction to foreign disinformation is almost as big a threat to undermine democracy, trust in institutions as whatever content might be thrown at us.”
– Gavin Wilde, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“I do think the perception question is a critical one. I think it’s going to extend, potentially, to electoral security this year because we have had such attacks on state and local officials. Their sense of their personal safety has been so damaged. They have been doxxed. They have been personally threatened. So, we are seeing across the country a diminished base of experienced state and local electoral officials, which means that we have more newbies in the mix – which means that there’s going to be more mistakes.”
– Kat Duffy, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Panel Speakers:
Congressman Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M.(R-OH),Chairman, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Senator Mark Warner(Va.), Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Mr. Fred Ryan, Chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute; Discussion Moderator
Ms. Kat Duffy, Senior Fellow for Digital and Cyberspace Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Dr. Lindsay Hundley, Product Policy Manager, Meta Platforms
Mr. Kian Vesteinsson, Senior Research Analyst for Technology and Democracy, Freedom House
Mr. Gavin Wilde, Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Mr. Mark de la Iglesia, Director for US Democracy, Freedom House; Discussion Moderator
