The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Tuesday warned that foreign adversaries of the United States, particularly Russia are ramping up their efforts to shake confidence in the presidential election and “stoke divisions among Americans.”
The United States Intelligence Community (IC) said foreign influence operations are expected to “intensify through Election Day and in the coming weeks.” They added, “foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a joint statement with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said “Russia is the most active threat”.
Actors linked to Russia, in particular, are manufacturing videos and fake articles to erode trust in the election, to “instill fear in voters” and “suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences,” the agencies said.
“These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials,” they said. “We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through Election Day and in the days and weeks after polls close.”
The IC added that Iran “also remains a significant foreign influence threat.” The agencies said we have assessed that Iran “conducted malicious cyber activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign.”
The agencies said that Iran remains determined to seek revenge against select former US officials “whom it views as culpable for the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) Commander Soleimani in January 2020.”
“It has repeatedly highlighted former President Donald Trump among its priority targets for retribution,” the agencies said.
Meanwhile, In-person voting begins at midnight (US local time) in the New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch near the border of Canada in the north east of the US and continues until voting ends at 7 pm.
On November 5, six registered voters in Dixville Notch were among the first in the US to cast their ballots in person. Polls opened in the small town to the sound of an accordion playing the national anthem.
Polling closed just after midnight ET in a tradition that dates back to 1960, CNN reported.
The results came in with three votes going to Republican candidate Trump and three went to Democratic candidate Harris.
