Jeh Johnson
The Crisis of Election Security
We should appreciate that democracy, even outside the US, is under assault by a lot of bad actors.
Jeh Johnson
Former US secretary of homeland security
Full Session
The Crisis of Election Security
Setup
Robert Mueller made clear the bottom line of his investigation: Russia attacked our democracy — and, as he said, every American should focus on that. Instead, recent news reports reveal that the Department of Homeland Security wasn't even allowed to bring up the threat of election attacks with President Trump. As candidates hit the 2020 campaign trail, what should the United States be doing to protect the core of our democracy?
- 2019 Festival
- World
- Technology
- USA
Weaponizing the democratic process
Weaponizing the democratic process
The US isn't doing enough to stop bad actors
How can the public and private sectors best work together?
1.
Weaponizing the democratic process
Jump to idea
01:35
Gone are the days when the best way to influence an election was to stuff ballot boxes. New tools give malevolent actors cheap and easy methods of sowing distrust around the electoral process, says former secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson:
Johnson breaks down threats to our elections into three categories: tampering with election infrastructure, the weaponization of hacked information, and directed misinformation campaigns.
2.
The US isn't doing enough to stop bad actors
Jump to idea
12:50
Although the US has been exalted throughout its history as a model for the democratic process, the 2016 election made it clear how vulnerable US elections are to outside influence. Douglas Lute, former US ambassador to NATO, frames Russian interference in the 2016 election as a test of their abilities, not a one-off attack.
Big IdeaIt only takes the manipulation of a few key precincts in a few key states to perhaps swing a national election.Jeh Johnson
Both the nature of misinformation campaigns and the reluctance of some US politicians to take seriously the threat posed by election meddling means that when (not if, according to Lute) Russia interferes again they will have a proven blueprint.
3.
How can the public and private sectors best work together?
Jump to idea
16:43
Russia’s influence in the US elections has dominated headlines, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly special. Douglas Lute and Katie Harbath make a compelling case for contextualizing Russian interference in US elections as once instance of a very troubling trend:
This exchange has been lightly edited for clarity.
-
Douglas Lute: This is not just a bilateral issue, this is not just Russia as an attacker. We’re kind of fixated on that shiny object. But China, Iran, and North Korea also have state-led, meaningful capabilities in this realm, and America is not the only democracy that’s under assault and vulnerable …... We should appreciate that democracy, even outside the US, is under assault by a lot of bad actors.
-
Katie Harbath: To your point, everyone’s been fixated on Russia and now everyone thinks Russia is trying to infiltrate their elections. But every country really does have unique challenges to their own democracy, and different laws. Not all countries ban foreign donations in their elections. We [Facebook] ran into an interesting case with the EU elections, where we decided to not allow cross-border advertising. Some countries within the EU allow foreign funding of candidates, and so it could be very easy for a state actor to fund that candidate and then they run ads from that country into, let’s say, Germany or France.
Facebook is a global institution, and misinformation doesn’t respect geopolitical boundaries. Protecting the integrity of elections from insidious new methods is a concern that will likely plague democracies for years to come.
Learn More
Additional Information
Resources
website
Explore More
World
1149 ideas
Collection
Designing for Better Health
Whether expressed through systems that are easy to navigate, devices that are friendly to their users, and spaces that are pleasing to the eye, thoughtful design can break dow...
10 items
Nov 16, 2023
What Happened to the American Dream?
Most Americans today would agree that the dream of supporting a family and living a good life on one full time salary is not available to vast numbers of people. Wages have no...
Podcast — 52m
Nov 9, 2023
How Do We Put Guardrails on A.I.?
Artificial intelligence is making world-changing advances every day. But these powerful tools can be used for malicious and nefarious purposes just as easily as they can be us...
Podcast — 51m
Oct 26, 2023
Building a Zero Carbon American Future
Climate change catastrophes are already happening with increasing regularity, and it’s clear we need to take action. The Biden administration has set a target of zero carbon e...
Podcast — 59m
Oct 18, 2023
Who Can Track and Hack Our Brains?
A technological future where our brain waves could be monitored and our thoughts decoded and analyzed — sometimes against our will — is not as far away as we think. But our ex...
Podcast — 52m
Sep 27, 2023
Investing in Shared American Prosperity
Even when the economy is booming and unemployment is low, millions of Americans still face economic hardship. And in the last few years the United States has dealt with supply...
Podcast — 48m
Collection
Bold Goals: The Biomedical Science of Tomorrow
Setting audacious goals helps to redefine what is achievable in health, medicine, and science. As we deepen understanding of the human genome, unravel the mysteries of the bra...
9 items
Sep 6, 2023
Thinking, Innovating and A.I. with Walter Isaacson
Artificial intelligence is clearly going to change our lives in multiple ways. But it’s not yet obvious exactly how, and what the impacts will be. We can predict that certain...
Podcast — 53m
Aug 30, 2023
Harnessing A.I. in Education with Sal Khan
When Sal Khan created Khan Academy, he was trying to scale up the successful experiences he’d had tutoring his cousins one-on-one in math. He saw how effective it could be for...
Podcast — 56m
Collection
The Edge of Intelligence
Everywhere you look, there’s a headline about the power of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our lives in ways we have not yet imagined. From advancing medicine t...
10 items
Aug 16, 2023
Wicked Problem: The Road Ahead for Immigration Policy
Almost everyone agrees that immigration policy in the United States is lacking, but despite decades of debate, Congress has not been able to pass comprehensive reform on the i...
Podcast — 40m
Collection
Driving the Economy Forward
How do we sustain growth in a volatile and rapidly changing economy? What’s the best way to foster productivity and fulfillment at work? How will A.I. change the job market? C...
10 items
Collection
Age of Uncertainty: Imagining a New World Order
The international community faces unprecedented threats. What will geopolitical arrangements look like going forward? Is it time to rethink America’s relationship with China?...
10 items
Collection
We the People
Americans seem more culturally and ideologically divided than at any point in most of our lifetimes, with no prospect of bridging those divides any time soon. The only thing w...
10 items
Interview
A Civic Health Check-Up with Vot-ER Founder Alister Martin
It’s a fact: In communities where voting rates are higher, health outcomes are better. That’s why ER physician Alister Martin, the Founder of Vot-ER and CEO of A Healthier Dem...
Article
Aug 2, 2023
Mary Barra: The Future of General Motors and EVs
The automotive industry is going through a time of profound transformation, facing internal and external pressure to electrify America’s fleet of personal vehicles. General Mo...
Podcast — 52m
Jul 26, 2023
Democracy Dilemma
Populations around the world have been electing more and more autocratic leaders in the past couple decades, via supposedly free, fair, and democratic elections. The freedom o...
Podcast — 51m
Jul 19, 2023
Solving the Problem of Guns in America
Merely defining gun violence is difficult, and coming to agreement on what to do about it often seems near-impossible in the United States. But people on all sides of the deba...
Podcast — 45m
Q&A
Can We Make Social Media Better?
Can technology bolster democracy? MIT’s Deb Roy thinks so.
Article
Jul 12, 2023
Reviewing the Supreme Court’s Latest
The U.S. Supreme Court continues to issue major decisions that have profound impacts on the lives of Americans and the political future of the country. During the term that ju...
Podcast — 54m
Sorry, we couldn't find any results
Clear filters
