US intelligence creates the Center for Combating the "malicious actions" of Russia

The office of the US National Intelligence Director announced the creation of the Center for Breeding Malign Influence Center.

The new structure should collect all reconnaissance data related to malicious intervention from abroad by various government institutions, evaluate this activity and advise American politicians responsible for decision-making on this issue, reports Politico . In particular, it is assumed that the center is focused on the activities of China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Russia.

The center of the US National Intelligence Director Everyl Hinse, who has stated the need for such a structure from the moment of taking office, advocated. Hines calls the work on the suppression of hostile foreign influence “an incredibly important issue” amid the threat emanating from Russia in cyberspace - against the backdrop of the December hacker attacks in which Washington accused Russia. What will be the budget of the new center is unknown, since the office of the US National Intelligence Director does not disclose the budget of the intelligence community.

In March 2021, the US intelligence published a report in which she accused Moscow of supporting the ex-president of the United States Donald Trump, to discredit the current American leader Joe Bayden and “sow differently” in American society.

The report explicitly said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials of the Russian Federation "were aware of" about the operation to intervene in the American elections "and probably led" this campaign personally. The document stated that Putin authorized the "Influence operations sent to denigrate the presidential candidate Biden and the Democratic Party, the support of the former President Trump, the undermining of public confidence in the electoral process and the aggravation of socio-political disagreements in the United States."

According to experts of the intelligence community, Moscow used proxies related to the Russian special services to disseminate statements and stories among certain American media and persons, "including some close to the former President Trump and its administration." These plans were implemented by "a number of Russian government organizations."

In the part dedicated to the intervention of Moscow, the key element of its strategy was called "people associated with the Russian special services", which the Kremlin used to promote "misleading or unreasonable statements" against Joe Biden. For this, Russia used American media, officials and officials of the United States, famous personalities, "some of whom were close to former President Donald Trump and his administration."

The US intelligence community emphasized that foreign forces would continue to try to influence the United States.

American lawmakers have already supported the creation of a center to combat a malicious foreign influence.

Senator Mark Warner, Vice-Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Intelligence, said that the assessment of Russian actions declassified in the report “once again emphasized the threat emanating from foreign opponents who continue to use American social networks to intervene in the elections and cause chaos and split in society.”

Although the US intelligence community has significantly improved its response measures since 2016, it makes sense to create a separate center in it to combine various threat data in one place, ”the senator added.

The Adam Shiff, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, expressed the hope that the Center "will be able to fulfill the mission set before him - to arm American officials and the American people with the information necessary to respond to foreign influence and the campaign of foreign intervention that undermine American democracy."