It’s still way too easy for countries to meddle in America’s elections. Here’s how it will happen in 2020.

Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

America has not done enough to protect its elections from meddling by foreign powers.
The playbook on how to sow discord and disrupt US elections is glaringly obvious.
From social media to email hacking, here’s how America’s enemies are likely to disrupt the 2020 presidential election.
Brett Bruen was the director of global engagement in the Obama White House and a career American diplomat. He runs the crisis-communications agency Global Situation Room.
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America’s democracy remains ridiculously vulnerable to manipulation. Few defenses have been erected around our elections, and little has changed since 2016. The administration has done next to nothing. Congress has largely focused on litigating the last election. Tech companies have taken only superficial steps to address the most visible vulnerabilities.

The US lacks even a rudimentary way to track or strike back against information attacks. It’s not just Russia; pretty much any puny power sees a chance to knock the US down a few pegs. This why 2020 is shaping up to be an ideal target for second-rate powers and first-time meddlers.

There is a simple playbook to messing with someone else’s elections. Russia uses it, so does Iran, and President Donald Trump’s pen pal in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un, does too. These previous efforts have laid out what essentially constitutes a "Meddling for Dummies" guide for other countries looking to get in the disinformation game. Players new and old are now putting together their plans, tweaking their tradecraft, and piloting primitive propaganda.

It’s easy for America’s adversaries to sow discord

Just how easy is it to disrupt America’s elections? Well, if you’re a foreign power looking to stir the pot in American politics, you need to follow only a few fundamental steps.

First, figure out who the most pugnacious politicians and pundits are. Identify the most polarizing issues. Look at where the most virulent debates are happening. You are now well on your way to mastering the art of mass manipulation.

You don’t need to pick a side. The great part of messing with someone else’s election is you can take both sides of an issue or attack all the candidates with equal fervor. Your main goal is just to divide and sow some serious doubts across the American electorate.

This next part gets moderately more complicated. You will need to listen attentively. Pay attention not only to what people are saying but also how they say it. What kinds of things really get people fired up? Again, your objective is to neatly fit your propaganda into the middle of those debates.

Now you get to turn up the volume. Sprinkle some explosive language or incendiary imagery. Start throwing out wild accusations.

Find some friends — 2020 isn’t going to be as much about bots. This time, the good stuff is largely going to come from real people. They just need to be carefully co-opted and coordinated. So go out and find a few folks with radical views.

Send them some good material to use; pass on the latest trends and techniques. A couple donations to their websites or cause will ensure they keep going. Help them connect with fellow travelers, strengthen their sense of community, and solidify the notion of a common cause.

2020 disinformation won’t just be on social media

Hacking can be helpful. Stealing emails, campaign plans, or recording calls offers many benefits. One, you’ll get insight into weaknesses or worries that can be exploited. Two, they might prove useful to release at some strategic stage.

What you release doesn’t have to be real. You may want to throw in some real emails, but fabricating a few allows you to make up some really scandalous stuff. As they are mixed in with actual messages, it gives them the added appearance of authenticity. This is exactly what happened during French President Emanuel Macron’s campaign. You then just need to toss ’em out into the Twittersphere, where veracity is often obscured by the virulent and viral.

Speaking of break-ins, voting systems and elections rolls might be slightly tougher targets this time. Here’s the good news, it doesn’t need to be a large place. Just the headline, "Voting machines hacked," even if it’s in the middle of nowhere, will surely be enough to diminish confidence in the credibility of elections everywhere.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

While we are talking about credibility, make sure you also focus on the media. Muddling the message and muddying the messenger is a must for good meddling. Use phrases like "mainstream media" and "fake news" liberally. Try to undermine their reports by spinning up plausible new theories, rumors, or allegations.

In short, you don’t have to be supersmart or all that sophisticated to send shockwaves through the American political system. The US has made it possible for almost any clueless country or clumsy con to damage our democracy.

You might ask, why should I bother? Perception of power. Putin’s bad-guy brand got a big boost after 2016. So it’s time to brush up on some of these basics. You, too, can discover just how easy it is to manipulate our elections and enhance your global stature.

Brett Bruen was director of global engagement in the Obama White House and a career American diplomat. He runs the crisis-communications agency Global Situation Room and teaches crisis management at Georgetown.

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