Did an announcement by U.S. intelligence officials that there's no foreign interference in U.S. elections through early September 2024 undermine the Department of Justice's indictment of alleged Russian operatives? No, that's not true: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that there's no evidence of a "foreign actor" directly interfering in the process of conducting an election, while the Department of Justice is targeting an alleged Russian influence campaign. Influence campaigns are aimed at swaying public opinion rather than directly manipulating election infrastructure, which would constitute election interference.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by ZeroHedge on September 7, 2024, titled "US Intel Undercuts DOJ's 'Foreign Interference' Claim Used To Smear Conservative Pundits." The story opens:
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) announced Friday [September 6, 2024] that it has not 'observed' any foreign interference in the 2024 election, seemingly undermining cynical remarks by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The ODNI's Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC) stated in a 2-page report that the intelligence community 'has not observed any foreign actor seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.' Natalie Winters, a co-host of the Steve Bannon WarRoom podcast, first reported these findings.
This is what the article looked like on ZeroHedge at the time of writing:
(Source: ZeroHedge screenshot taken on Tue Sep 10 18:11:27 2024 UTC)
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
The ZeroHedge report questions a specific line from an election security report (archived here) published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on September 6, 2024. It's an update on the intelligence community's (IC) findings 60 days out from the presidential election on November 5, 2024. The line cited in the ZeroHedge article from the ODNI report says:
To date, the IC has not observed any foreign actor seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.
The ZeroHedge report casts doubt on the Department of Justice's (DoJ) actions to halt a Russian influence operation and whether it really exists.
On September 4, 2024, the Biden administration (archived here) announced it had shut down Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in a move to counter what it claims are Russian efforts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election.
Along with the charges, the U.S. government imposed sanctions and visa restrictions as part of its effort, just weeks before the election, to counter the ongoing threat from Russia, which officials have long warned could cause confusion and unrest among voters.
Election interference vs. election influence
There is no contradiction between the DOJ and the ODNI because they are addressing different issues. The Justice Department is discussing a Russian influence operation, while National Intelligence is referring to direct interference in the election process.
The ODNI explained the difference in a September 10, 2024, email to Lead Stories. The statement from an intelligence official said:
The Intelligence Community refers to the term election interference for efforts to degrade or disrupt the United States' ability to hold an election. This is separate from election influence.
We define election influence as efforts to shape election outcomes or undermine democratic processes. We have not observed any foreign actor seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.
The Intelligence Community does assess adversaries are focused on using information operations and propaganda to try to shape voter preferences or undermine confidence in the election. Nonetheless, this is a top priority and the Intelligence Community and our interagency election partners remain vigilant.
Read more
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about the U.S. elections can be found here.
