US, Canada jets intercept China, Russia planes near Alaska
US, Canada jets intercept China, Russia planes near Alaska/node/2555986/world
US, Canada jets intercept China, Russia planes near Alaska
Intercepts of Russian aircraft — in which they are contacted visually or electronically by US or Canadian planes — are relatively common in the area. (File Photo/X:@NORADCommand)
US, Canada jets intercept China, Russia planes near Alaska
Updated 25 July 2024
AFP
WASHINGTON: American and Canadian warplanes intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers in international airspace near the state of Alaska on Wednesday, the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said.
“NORAD detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone,” it said.
The zone is a perimeter in which air traffic is monitored beyond the border of national airspace to provide additional reaction time in case of hostile actions.
Intercepts of Russian aircraft — in which they are contacted visually or electronically by US or Canadian planes — are relatively common in the area.
“Fighter jets from the United States and Canada conducted the intercept,” NORAD said, adding that the bombers “remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” and that their activity “is not seen as a threat.”
Republicans Liz Cheney and former senator McCain’s son endorse Kamala Harris
Cheney joins other Republicans like former Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Rep. Denver Riggleman as backers of Harris
The son of the late Republican stalwart John McCain is supporting Harris, a valuable nod of support for the Democratic nominee in Arizona
Updated 11 sec ago
AP
WASHINGTON: Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and a son of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Wednesday threw their support behind Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, in the latest case of Republicans turning against party candidate Donald Trump.
Cheney's announcement ended weeks of speculation about how fully the member of a GOP dynasty-turned-Trump critic would embrace the Democratic ticket.
Cheney, who co-chaired the House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, became a fierce Trump critic and was ousted in her 2022 Republican primary in Wyoming as a result, made her announcement at an event at Duke University. In a video posted on the social media network X, she finished by talking about the “danger” she believed Trump still poses to the country.
“I don’t believe that we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states,” she said. “As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.”
Harris’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement Wednesday night: “The Vice President is proud to have earned Congresswoman Cheney’s vote. She is a patriot who loves this country and puts our democracy and our Constitution first.”
The daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney has been perhaps Trump’s highest-profile Republican critic. She joins other Republicans like her former Jan. 6 committee member, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Rep. Denver Riggleman, as backers of Harris. More than 200 alumni of the Bush administration and former Republican presidential campaigns of the late Sen. John McCain and Sen. Mitt Romney also announced their endorsement of Harris last week.
Cheney was in House Republican leadership at the time of the Jan. 6 attack but broke with most of her caucus over Trump’s responsibility. She lost her leadership post and was one of the few Republicans willing to serve on the Jan. 6 committee, which was appointed by Democrats who controlled the House at the time.
McCain's son now a Democrat
Jimmy McCain, a son of former Arizona senator John McCain, said this week he has registered as a Democrat and will vote for Harris, a valuable nod of support for the Democratic nominee in a battleground state.
Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, appeared outside Phoenix Wednesday for an event with the conservative youth organizing group Turning Point USA, which has been instrumental in remaking the Arizona GOP as a faithful organ of former President Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” movement.
Jimmy McCain’s endorsement and Vance’s Turning Point USA appearance reflect the disparate segments of the GOP that Harris and Trump are trying to reach. Democrats are appealing to traditional conservatives disillusioned by Trump’s takeover of the GOP, while Republicans are looking to shore up their base and ensure that their young supporters turn out.
Jimmy McCain, son of Arizona's Republican Sen. John McCain, pauses at his father's casket during ceremonies honoring Vietnam War veteran at the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington on Aug. 31, 2018. (Pool Photo via AP)
Democrats have made big inroads over the last six years in Arizona, once a Republican stronghold that routinely backed McCain and other Republicans for president, with an anti-Trump coalition that includes Republicans and conservative independents.
That reality is clear in each campaign’s approach to winning the state. Harris has staked out moderate positions in contrast to the progressive stances she outlined in her 2020 Democratic primary campaign, including on the border, an important issue in this border state, while elevating Republican backers.
Trump, meanwhile, is counting on support from young voters turned off by politics and distrustful of institutions. He chose Phoenix for a rally joining forces with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who abandoned his own independent campaign to back Trump.
The Turning Point event where Vance spoke was aimed at promoting the group’s “chase the vote” initiative to identify supporters who might need an extra nudge and ensure they participate. The event, at a mega church on the outskirts of metro Phoenix, began with a concert by a Christian rock band with a heavy, seat-shaking base and a colorful light show.
Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk spoke to Vance onstage for nearly an hour, focusing the conversation on social issues that have animated Trump’s base, including immigration and transgender rights.
“We just want Americans to be able to live a decent life in the country their parents and grandparents built,” Vance said.
Jimmy McCain said he had been an independent since leaving the Republican Party after Trump became its standard bearer in 2016. He decided during a nine-month overseas deployment that just ended to switch his registration to Democratic and announce it publicly. His decision was first reported by CNN.
He said he was further “fired up” by the decision after seeing Trump’s campaign visit to Arlington National Cemetery, a visit that Harris called a “political stunt” that “disrespected sacred ground.”
Trump has had a fraught relationship with the McCain family since he denigrated the senator’s status as a war hero during his 2016 campaign.
Jimmy McCain said it was personally difficult for him to hear his father disrespected, but he said his father chose a public life and Americans are allowed to criticize their leaders.
“With Arlington, the people who are buried there gave their lives and the ultimate sacrifice,” McCain said. “They don’t get a political opinion. ... We don’t know what those people felt, thought, what they believed. We know they believed in their country and that’s about it.”
Trump said he was invited to Arlington by the families of Marines killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan. His campaign released statements from the relatives accusing Harris of playing politics with the issue.
“There has been no greater advocate for our brave military men and women than President Trump,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary. He secured new military investments and pay raises for troops while he was in the White House, and no new wars broke out, she said.
Jimmy McCain, 36, enlisted in the US Marines as a teenager and served four years. He reenlisted in the Army National Guard and was later commissioned as an officer, currently holding the rank of 1st Lieutenant.
Ideologically, McCain said he’s a moderate and hearkened back to his father’s 2008 campaign slogan, “Country first.”
“I’m a center man who cares about his country more than anything,” McCain said.
Cindy McCain, the late senator’s widow, endorsed President Joe Biden shortly before the 2020 election, a vote of confidence that helped the Democrat eke out a narrow win in Arizona with support from Republicans disaffected with Trump. Biden appointed McCain to be the US ambassador to the United Nations food and agriculture agencies in Rome, where she is now executive director of the UN World Food Programme.
A Navy pilot, John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. He was captured, beaten and held prisoner for more than five years, refusing to be released ahead of other American servicemembers.
Trump said of McCain, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain later angered Trump with his dramatic thumbs-down vote against repealing Obama’s health care law.
McCain represented Arizona in Congress for 31 years until his death in 2018 from an aggressive brain tumor and built a national reputation as a “maverick” willing to buck his party. While he sometimes took flack from the GOP base and faced fierce primary challengers, he was overwhelmingly reelected and remains a beloved figure in the state.
Still, the endorsement won’t sway the Republicans who still dislike McCain.
“I didn’t respect John McCain,” said Jerry Lyn of suburban Phoenix, who went to the Turning Point rally because he’s been so impressed by Vance he wanted to see him in person. “I really didn’t. He did a lot of bad things and people don’t realize it.
“I think it’s disgusting.”
UK government moves to oust hereditary peers from House of Lords
To be removed are 92 seats reserved for peers who inherited their position as a member of an aristocratic family
Britain is an anomaly among western governments in having such lawmakers, who hold titles such as duke, earl, viscount and baron
Updated 05 September 2024
AFP
LONDON: The UK government will introduce legislation on Thursday to remove seats in the House of Lords retained for hereditary lawmakers as it moves to reform parliament's unelected upper chamber.
The bill will remove the 92 seats reserved for peers who inherited their position as a member of an aristocratic family.
They hold titles such as duke, earl, viscount and baron. Britain is an anomaly among western governments in having such lawmakers.
The move was a manifesto commitment of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour party ahead of its landslide general election win in July, which returned it to power for the first time in 14 years.
It resurrects reform of the Lords that started under Tony Blair's Labour government in the late 1990s.
"This is a landmark reform to our constitution," constitution minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said in a statement.
"The hereditary principle in law-making has lasted for too long and is out of step with modern Britain.
"The second chamber plays a vital role in our constitution and people should not be voting on our laws in parliament by an accident of birth," he added.
Wikimedia Commons Infographic
The legislation will easily pass the House of Commons lower chamber due to Labour's massive majority before it will have to be approved by the Lords.
It is not clear when exactly it will become law.
Lesotho in southern Africa is the only other country in the world with a hereditary element in its legislature, according to UK officials.
The scrapping of the hereditary peers has been described by Labour as a "first step in wider reform".
The government says it wants to ultimately replace the Lords with an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the UK.
The Lords comprises around 800 members, most of whom are appointed for life.
They include former MPs, typically appointed by departing prime ministers, along with people nominated after serving in prominent public- or private-sector roles, and senior Church of England clerics, including the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The primary role of the centuries-old chamber is to scrutinise the government.
It cannot override legislation sent from the popularly elected House of Commons, but it can amend and delay bills and initiate new draft laws.
Blair's government had intended to abolish all the seats held by hundreds of hereditary members who sat in the chamber at that time.
But it ended up retaining 92 in what was supposed to be a temporary compromise.
Lords reform has proved a thorny issue for successive administrations, in part because officials have struggled to propose better alternatives.
Kamala Harris accepts rules for Sept. 10 debate with Trump on ABC, including microphone muting
President Joe Biden’s campaign had made the muting of microphones, except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, a condition of his decision to accept any debates this year
Once Harris rose in Biden’s stead and became their party’s pick for president, her campaign had advocated for live microphones for the whole debate
Updated 05 September 2024
AP
WASHINGTON: Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted the rules set forth for next week’s debate with former President Donald Trump, although the Democratic nominee says the decision not to keep both candidates’ microphones live throughout the matchup will be to her disadvantage.
The development, which came Wednesday by way of a letter from Harris’ campaign to host network ABC News, seemed to mark a conclusion to the debate over microphone muting, which had for a time threatened to derail the Sept. 10 presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
President Joe Biden’s campaign had made the muting of microphones, except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, a condition of his decision to accept any debates this year. Some aides have said they now regret that decision, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trump’s outbursts during the June debate. A disastrous performance for the incumbent Democrat fueled his exit from the campaign.
Once Harris rose in Biden’s stead and became their party’s pick for president, her campaign had advocated for live microphones for the whole debate, saying previously that the practice would “fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates.”
But on Wednesday, in a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Harris’ advisers wrote that the former prosecutor will be “fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President.”
“We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones,” her campaign added.
Despite those concerns, Harris’ campaign wrote, “we understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format.” So as not to “jeopardize the debate,” Harris’ campaign wrote, “we accepted the full set of rules proposed by ABC, including muted microphones.”
According to an official with Harris’ campaign, a pool of journalists will be on hand to hear what the muted candidate may be trying to say when his or her microphone is turned off. That detail was not in the full debate rules, also released Wednesday by ABC, which are essentially the same as they were for the June debate between Trump and Biden.
The network laid out parameters from the basic format — 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks — to specifications that moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis “will be the only people asking questions,” perhaps hoping to avert a free-for-all between the candidates.
“Moderators will seek to enforce timing agreements and ensure a civilized discussion,” the network noted.
The Harris campaign official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss planning around the debate, said a candidate who repeatedly interrupts will receive a warning from a moderator, and both candidates’ microphones may be unmuted if there is significant crosstalk so the audience can understand what’s happening.
After a virtual coin flip held Tuesday and won by Trump, the GOP nominee opted to offer the final closing statement, while Harris chose the podium on the right side of viewers’ screens. There will be no audience, written notes or any topics or questions shared with campaigns or candidates in advance, the network said.
A list of mass killings in the United States this year
At least 127 people have died this year in mass killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period
Updated 05 September 2024
AP
The latest mass killing in the US happened Wednesday in Winder, Georgia, where four people were fatally shot at Apalachee High School, was the country’s 29th mass killing this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
At least 127 people have died this year in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Last year ended with 217 deaths from 42 mass killings in the US, making 2023 one of the deadliest years on record.
Here is a look at other US mass killings this year:
FOREST PARK, ILLINOIS: Sept. 2
Four people sleeping on a Chicago-area train were fatally shot on Labor Day morning. Police were called to a Chicago Transit Authority station just outside the city. A 30-year-old man was arrested. The victims were a woman and three men. A motive wasn’t immediately disclosed.
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y.: Aug. 31
Four people were found dead after firefighters extinguished multiple blazes at a home in upstate New York, though authorities said they likely were killed by something else. Firefighters found the bodies of two adults, a 2-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
DALTON, GEORGIA: Aug. 24
Four males, ages 17 to 21, were shot to death at a park. A teenager was charged with murder in what police said was a robbery that turned violent. Multiple weapons were involved.
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA: July 31
Police said an intentional fire killed four people near Tampa. A 25-year-old man who lived in the house was charged with murder while engaged in arson. Three dogs also died.
NEW YORK CITY: July 19
A grandmother, a mother and her two children, ages 5 and 4, were fatally stabbed at an apartment in Brooklyn. A 24-year-old man who knew the four was arrested.
WEST BLOCTON, ALABAMA: July 18
A man was charged with killing his wife and four children, ages 2 to 9, in a rural community in Bibb County. The man didn’t say anything about a motive when taken into custody. “Even seasoned officers told me it is the worst thing they’ve ever seen,” Sheriff Jody Wade said.
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: July 13
The victims were shot at a nightclub. One man died on a sidewalk while two women were killed inside the club. Another man was pronounced dead at a hospital. Investigators believed some shots were fired from outside the club.
ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA: July 10
Police arrested a man in the shootings of his wife, two children and his wife’s parents in the San Francisco Bay area. The man’s father-in-law went to a neighbor for help and spoke to police before he died.
FLORENCE, KENTUCKY: July 6
A birthday party turned deadly in the wee hours when four people were shot. The 21-year-old suspected gunman crashed his car in a ditch during a police chase and was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.
NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: June 24
A 48-year-old man barred from possessing guns because of a criminal record killed himself after fatally shooting five people, police said. The violence began after the man had an argument with a former girlfriend. The victims at the apartment complex included a neighbor who tried to help and the neighbor’s mother and grandmother.
FORDYCE, ARKANSAS: June 21
A 44-year-old man shot people in the parking lot before shooting more inside the Mad Butcher grocery store, killing four. Police said he did not appear to have a connection to the victims. The shooting occurred in the middle of the day in Fordyce, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Little Rock.
HUDSON, FLORIDA: June 12
A landlord was accused of killing a family of four and burning their bodies. The two children were ages 6 and 5. The family was reported missing by relatives. Police say a backyard fire pit was smoldering when they searched the property in Pasco County.
MARION, IOWA: June 5
Police said a metal pipe was used to kill four people in an outbuilding of a rural home near Cedar Rapids.
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: April 29
Four officers were shot in the deadliest attack on US law enforcement since 2016. They were killed when a task force of officers from different agencies tried to capture a 39-year-old man for illegally possessing a firearm and fleeing to elude in a different county.
YUKON, OKLAHOMA: April 22
A 10-year-old boy awoke to find his parents and three brothers dead in their home near Oklahoma City, all fatally shot by his father, police said. Authorities believe the 42-year-old man killed his wife and three sons — ages 18, 14 and 12 — then turned the gun on himself. Police said they did not immediately know why the fourth child was spared or have a motive for the shootings.
ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS: March 27
A frenzied stabbing and beating rampage left four people dead in a matter of minutes and at least seven people injured. Authorities said a 22-year-old man was charged. Police didn’t immediately know his motive. Rockford’s mayor said the victims were 63, 23, 49 and 15.
IRELAND, WEST VIRGINIA: March 11
The bodies of four people, ages 3 months to 90 years, were found inside the remains of a burning home. A fifth person with an apparent gunshot wound was discovered dead behind a chicken coop nearby, authorities said. A 45-year-old male suspect was found dead by suicide about 110 miles (180 kilometers) away, parked in a vehicle outside his relatives’ home. Authorities did not immediately share details about a motive.
HONOLULU, HAWAII: March 10
Authorities said a woman and three children ages 10, 12 and 17 were fatally stabbed in a Manoa home. The woman’s husband was also found dead. Police said a preliminary investigation shows the husband fatally stabbed his wife and children. Authorities did not immediately share a motive. Police said the five deaths mark the state’s worst mass killing since 1999. They said there was no history of domestic calls to the residence.
KING CITY, CALIFORNIA: March 3
Police said three men with dark masks got out of a silver Kia and opened fire at an outdoor party in central California, killing three men and a woman and wounding seven others. The shooting happened on a street with modest homes facing a commercial district in King City, close to Pinnacles National Park.
FERGUSON, MISSOURI: Feb. 19
Authorities said a 39-year-old woman intentionally set a fire at home to kill herself and her four children, ages 2, 5, 9 and 9. Investigators believe the mother set fire to a mattress, and left a note saying she intended to kill herself and her children, police said. Responding firefighters found the home engulfed in flames. Neighbors tried to save the family, but the fire was too intense.
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: Feb. 16
Officials said four men were killed in a drive-by shooting. Dozens of shots were fired outside a Birmingham home, police said. People were standing outside a house as they got their cars washed when someone drove by and opened fire. No arrests were immediately reported.
HUNTINGTON PARK, CALIFORNIA: Feb. 11
Shootings over several hours left four people dead: a man in Bell, a man in a Los Angeles shopping center parking lot, a 14-year-old boy in Cudahy, and a homeless man in Huntington Park, authorities said. At least one other juvenile was wounded. Two suspected gang members were arrested in connection with the shootings, authorities said.
EAST LANSDOWNE, PENNSYLVANIA: Feb. 7
Six sets of human remains were recovered from the ashes of a fire that destroyed a home near Philadelphia, according to the county district attorney’s office. Authorities suspect those who died — including three children — were killed by a 43-year-old male relative who also died after shooting and wounding two police officers, the office said. A motive was not immediately identified.
EL MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA: Jan. 23
Authorities found the bodies of six men in the Mojave Desert outside the sparsely populated community of El Mirage after someone called 911 and said he had been shot, according to sheriff’s officials. The men were likely shot to death in a dispute over marijuana, authorities said. The bodies were found about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles in an area known for illegal cannabis operations. Five men were arrested and charged with murder.
JOLIET, ILLINOIS: Jan. 21
Authorities said a 23-year-old man shot eight people — including seven of his relatives — and injuring a ninth person in a Chicago suburb. He fatally shot himself later during a confrontation with law enforcement in Texas. Authorities believe he was trying to reach Mexico. Police said the victims included his mother, siblings, aunt, uncle and two men he might not have known. They were found in two homes, outside an apartment building and on a residential street.
TINLEY PARK, ILLINOIS: Jan. 21
A 63-year-old man in suburban Chicago killed his wife and three adult daughters a domestic-related shooting, police said. The man allegedly shot the four family members — ages 53, 24 and two 25-year-old twins — after an argument at their home. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
RICHMOND, TEXAS: Jan. 13
A 46-year-old man fatally shot his estranged wife and three other relatives, including his 8-year-old niece, at a home in suburban Houston before killing himself, authorities said. Authorities said the man had told his estranged wife that he wanted to reunite but she refused. In addition to killing his niece and estranged wife, he also killed her brother and sister, ages 43 and 46.
REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA: Jan. 6
A 17-year-old boy was charged with killing four members of a neighboring family in central California. He lived next door to the victims — ages 81, 61, 44 and 43 — in Reedley, a small town near Fresno. Three bodies were found in their backyard, including one buried in a shallow grave, while another was found in the detached garage of the teenager’s home, police said.
US accuses Russia of using state media to spread disinformation before the November election
Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote
Updated 04 September 2024
AP
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration announced wide-ranging actions Wednesday meant to call out Russian influence in the upcoming US presidential election, unsealing criminal charges against two employees of a Russian state-run media company and seizing Internet domains used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation.
The measures represented a US government effort at disrupting a persistent threat from Russia that American officials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters. Washington has said that Russia remains the primary threat to elections even as the FBI investigates a hack by Iran of Donald Trump’s campaign and an attempt breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign.
One criminal case accuses two employees of RT, a Russian-state-funded media organization that was forced by the Justice Department to register as a foreign agent, of covertly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish nearly 2,000 videos containing Russian propaganda. The defendants, who remain at large, used fake identities and the company was unaware it was being used by Russia.
In the other action, officials announced the seizure of 32 Internet domains that were used by the Kremlin to spread Russian propaganda and weaken global support for Ukraine.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the actions relate to Russia’s use of state media to enlist unwitting American influencers to spread propaganda and disinformation.
Intelligence agencies have previously charged that Russia was using disinformation to try to interfere in the election. The new steps show the depth of US concerns and signal legal actions against those suspected of being involved.
“Today’s announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said. “But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors intentionally interfering and undermining free and fair elections.”
In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia remained the biggest threat to election integrity, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin and “his proxies are using increasingly sophisticated techniques in their interference operations. They’re targeting specific voter demographics and swing-state voters to in an effort to manipulate presidential and congressional election outcomes. They’re intent on co-opting unwitting Americans on social media to push narratives advancing Russian interests.”
Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote. The tactics include using state media like RT to advance anti-US messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and inject them into American’s online conversations. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza.
In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either originated or was amplified by the Kremlin.
“Russia is taking a whole of government approach to influence the election including the presidential race,” an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this summer during a briefing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules worked out with that office.
Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters.
Two such firms were the subject of new US sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation.
The ultimate goal, however, is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origin. People are far more likely to trust and repost information that they believe is coming from a domestic source, officials said. Fake websites designed to mimic US news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods.
Messages left with the Russian Embassy were not immediately returned.
