Disinformation | New report shines light on dis- / misinformation campaigns by U.S. Gulf allies
Kelly McFarland via Responsible Statecraft
In this piece, originally published online in Responsible Statecraft on October 22, ISD director of programs and research Kelly McFarland looks at information operations originating in Gulf states and draws on ISD’s latest report, “The New Weapon of Choice.”
At a hastily called press briefing on Wednesday, top U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials claimed that both Russia and Iran had gained access to personal voter information and that Iran had targeted Democrats in an information operation. According to officials, Iranian actors posed as members of the Proud Boys, a pro-Trump group with ties to white supremacists, and sent threatening emails to Democratic voters telling them to vote for Trump.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, the United States charged six Russians for their roles in a series of damaging cyberattacks that included disruption of Ukraine’s power grid and the hack-and-leak of emails of advisers to Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign. The individuals charged are all members of the GRU, the infamous Russian military intelligence unit that wreaked havoc in the 2016 U.S. election.
Read the original piece in full:
Kelly McFarland is a U.S. diplomatic historian and the director of programs and research at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Follow him on Twitter @McFarlandKellyM
