The effort includes artificial intelligence, fake social media accounts and a spike in state-sponsored Russian propaganda.

By Dan De Luce

Russia is seeking to exploit America’s divisive debate over Israel’s offensive in Gaza through overt and covert propaganda, with the aim of aggravating political tensions in the U.S. and tarnishing Washington’s global image, according to two sources familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.

In its ongoing information war against the United States, Russia has shifted its focus in recent months to the Israel-Hamas conflict, seeking to inflame existing divisions in the West and to portray Washington as fueling the violence, the sources said.

A favorite theme of Russian information operations is to paint America as a failing democratic state, according to U.S. officials and researchers.

At an event last week in Washington, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Russia works to denigrate America’s standing in the world, to undermine democratic institutions and processes and to exploit social, political and economic divisions “in our culture and in our society.”

  • @cabron_offsets
    link
    45 months ago

    It is high time we wage an earnest hybrid war against the blyats. Sabotage, covert action of all manner, full-blown economic warfare, cutting off their supply chains, smuggling fentanyl, all that shit.

    • @cmbabul
      link
      105 months ago

      I’m increasing suspicious is that the reason marijuana is being rescheduled is that someone finally convinced the brass that they are talent limited in the IT world because of the large percentage of IT pros that smoke

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
        link
        English
        45 months ago

        Not to increase your suspicion but over a decade ago James Comey joked about that and then Jeff Sessions grilled him in front of Congress:

        FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that he was trying to be “funny” when he remarked at a conference this week that some of the people he’s looking to hire to fight cybercrime “want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.”

        As someone who has infosec skills that could be useful, the weed prohibition isn’t the main reason I don’t work for the government. It’s that they’d make me come into an office.

        • @cmbabul
          link
          25 months ago

          I agree it’s probably not the number one reason someone would turn down one of those jobs. But anyone that’s on the fence might be swayed