DOJ will start alerting the public about foreign election meddling

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 20 July 2018

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said on Thursday that as soon as the Department of Justice learns that an American company, private organization, or person has been hacked or otherwise covertly attacked by a foreign entity trying to influence an election, they will be notified.

"Exposing schemes to the public is an important way to neutralize them," Rosenstein said at the Aspen Security Forum. "The American people have a right to know if foreign governments are targeting them with propaganda." Microsoft executive Tom Burt told forum attendees that his team has already determined that the Russian military agency GRU has targeted at least three candidates running for office in the November midterm elections.

This new policy comes in the wake of the disinformation campaign waged by Russia during the 2016 presidential election, and it's a good start, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told The Washington Post. "If this disclosure requirement had been around in 2016, I firmly believe that it would have served as a meaningful deterrent after Russia's interference was first discovered, and it would have informed voters more quickly and more forcefully that a foreign government was trying to effect their vote," he said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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