Washington
CNN
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When national security officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in December to prepare for the 2024 election, they were faced with two stark simulation scenarios that would test the limits of the federal government's response to election-related disruptions, the meeting said. This was revealed by four people familiar with the matter. he told CNN.
What if Chinese operatives create a fake AI-generated video of Senate candidates discarding ballots? And if violence erupts at polling places on Election Day, what federal agencies should do? Should we respond like this?
No. 2 officials at the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and Justice Department wrestled for nearly an hour over how to respond to deepfake videos, including how to notify the public if they are unsure about the activity. It also included whether and how to notify them. China was behind it, officials told CNN.
When it comes to a coordinated federal response to rampant disinformation, deepfakes and harassment of election officials, “we're all in a bind,” said one U.S. official familiar with election security training. .
The meeting, which had not been previously reported, was the first training of its kind under President Biden in more than three years in office. The report highlights the tough questions the administration faces as it strategically considers potential threats to the 2024 election, and the limits of federal authority to respond to them.
Carolyn Custer/AP/File
People vote on Election Day at the Jeffersonville Masonic Lodge on November 7, 2023 in Jeffersonville, Ohio.
U.S. national security officials need to consider whether publicly calling attention to disinformation could unintentionally amplify the very messages they are trying to suppress. And if they find out that foreigners are behind intelligence operations aimed at elections, they can act more quickly and speak out publicly. When U.S. citizens may be involved, U.S. officials are reluctant to publicly respond for fear of influencing elections or giving the impression that they are restricting speech. .
In both scenarios, federal authorities preferred a quiet public response and chose to leave control primarily to state and local governments. This illustrates the deep dilemma they face. How can the federal government protect voters from election threats when many voters don't trust it to begin with? State and local officials conduct elections and are more reliable voices in their communities, but how can federal officials act boldly to support them?
Participants chose to let state election officials, rather than the federal government, take the lead in public messaging to counter disinformation spread by fake videos in their jurisdictions, two people said. That's what it means. Officials also discussed options for notifying Congress. Not a single person at the table raised their hand to lead a federal agency to inform the public about deepfakes.
Regarding violence at polling places, federal authorities have decided not to send federal agents to assist local police, saying they do not have the authority to do so.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/File
Biden walks with Xi Jinping at the Filloli mansion in Woodside, California, in November 2023.
The election security drill comes a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping assured President Joe Biden in a face-to-face meeting that China would not interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, and the administration is still preparing for that possibility. suggested that there was.
The role of deepfakes in election security is becoming increasingly important in light of recent AI robocalls imitating Biden's voice ahead of the New Hampshire primary, said another U.S. official familiar with the meeting. told CNN.
“We are in uncharted territory right now,” said the first official familiar with the meeting, adding that someone could easily use AI to create fake audio and video to target voters. He cited what can be done and the difficulty for U.S. government agencies to respond quickly. “It's the speed and volume with which an adversary floods the information environment.”
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to CNN last week that China's position “always abides by the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs.”
Officials from multiple federal agencies last week briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee on their preparations for election security in 2024, including a White House exercise in December, three people familiar with the briefing told CNN. told.
Two sources said there were sharp but unanswered questions about how the federal government would deal with AI-generated fakes in elections. And senators wondered whether the federal government was truly prepared to respond to this type of threat.
A spokesperson for the Senate Intelligence Committee declined to comment on the briefing.
“With the election already upon us, we are ensuring that we use all available resources and powers to deter, detect, disrupt, and expose foreign efforts to interfere in our elections,” said Sen. Mark Warner. I will continue to request that it be used.” The committee's chairman, a Democratic congressman from Virginia, said in a statement to CNN.
In a statement to CNN, senior government officials emphasized that election security is a top priority.
“We remain concerned about a variety of actors who seek to interfere with our election processes and undermine confidence in our election infrastructure. How Generative AI could empower these actors in their malign efforts.” ,” the official said. “That's why our entire government is working to ensure the integrity and security of the 2024 federal election.”
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File
Sen. Mark Warner in November 2023.
Policies at the state level are also still in progress. CNN recently asked election officials in all 50 states about their efforts to combat deepfakes. Of the 33 countries that responded, most described their states' existing programs to address common misinformation and cyber threats. However, less than half of states mentioned specific training, policies, or programs created to address election-related deepfakes.
Nevada's top elections official, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, spoke in a recent interview with CNN about how he plans to address the threat of AI-generated counterfeiting in elections and how federal agencies can respond. He said he was still considering whether to do so. help him
“If you look at Nevada's budget, you can see what the constraints are,” Aguilar said. “I don't think we've gone through a full election cycle that actually existed. So we're kind of in the frontier now, so to speak.”
After a relatively peaceful 2022 midterm election, federal officials tasked with election security are preparing for a variety of potential threats, and while they expect hackers from Russia, China and Iran to be active. , viral conspiracy theorists are poised to attack any voting glitch. Lie and fraud.
former president Donald Trump's lies about voter fraud continue to resonate with large swaths of the country, with a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters saying Biden's 2020 win was legitimate, according to a July CNN poll. states that it is not a thing.
The U.S. is focused on election security after suffering a brutal blowback in the 2016 election due to a Russian hacking-and-leaking campaign and in 2020 by a pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol. Officials are trying to balance security with the need to remain vigilant. We are careful about when to speak up about these threats to avoid backfiring.
Several former U.S. national security officials who worked on securing elections told CNN that in a post-2016 world, disclosing information could be interpreted as political.
“It's a trick box,” said Adam Hickey, who worked on election security issues at the Justice Department's National Security Division. “Unless the evidence that it is fake is virtually incontrovertible, [US officials] They will be accused of interfering with the election itself, and no one wants that. ”
But Hickey said that if U.S. officials were able to expose the role of foreign governments in interference campaigns, “voters would be able to rely on the source of that information without having to guess who a foreign government is supporting or why.” We can consider the message in light of that.”
Some in the federal government remain hurt by the slowness of national security agencies to warn the public about Russian interference in 2016. It wasn't until months later that states learned that Russian hackers had scanned their computer systems. But national security officials also want to avoid announcing major new developments on the eve of an election without giving the public adequate information to take action.
During the White House exercise, federal officials were testing out policies developed since 2016 to notify the public and Congress about foreign election interference. The policy stipulates that “partisan politics shall not play a role” in decisions to inform the public about foreign interference activities. It also urges authorities to consider whether making the announcement public would weaken foreign intervention, rather than inadvertently amplifying it.
The Justice Department, FBI, and CIA declined to comment on election security training. The Department of Homeland Security referred questions to the National Security Council.
Kate Conley, a U.S. Army veteran who joined DHS' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last year to shore up election security operations, declined to discuss the White House meeting, but her agency He said he has conducted more than 20 security training sessions with state and local authorities.
“[W]”We will prioritize tabletop exercises that integrate the full range of cyber, physical, and operational threats that election officials may encounter,” Conley said in a statement to CNN. “Many of those threats originate from the tactics and techniques of foreign adversaries, from China's network infiltration operations to Russia and Iran's foreign influence operations.”
CNN's Evan Perez, Natasha Bertrand, Donie O'Sullivan and Katie Bo Lillis contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
