Jeh Johnson
The Crisis of Election Security
We should appreciate that democracy, even outside the US, is under assault by a lot of bad actors.
Jeh Johnson
Former US secretary of homeland security
Full Session
The Crisis of Election Security
Setup
Robert Mueller made clear the bottom line of his investigation: Russia attacked our democracy — and, as he said, every American should focus on that. Instead, recent news reports reveal that the Department of Homeland Security wasn't even allowed to bring up the threat of election attacks with President Trump. As candidates hit the 2020 campaign trail, what should the United States be doing to protect the core of our democracy?
- 2019 Festival
- World
- Technology
- USA
Weaponizing the democratic process
Weaponizing the democratic process
The US isn't doing enough to stop bad actors
How can the public and private sectors best work together?
1.
Weaponizing the democratic process
Jump to idea
01:35
Gone are the days when the best way to influence an election was to stuff ballot boxes. New tools give malevolent actors cheap and easy methods of sowing distrust around the electoral process, says former secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson:
Johnson breaks down threats to our elections into three categories: tampering with election infrastructure, the weaponization of hacked information, and directed misinformation campaigns.
2.
The US isn't doing enough to stop bad actors
Jump to idea
12:50
Although the US has been exalted throughout its history as a model for the democratic process, the 2016 election made it clear how vulnerable US elections are to outside influence. Douglas Lute, former US ambassador to NATO, frames Russian interference in the 2016 election as a test of their abilities, not a one-off attack.
Big IdeaIt only takes the manipulation of a few key precincts in a few key states to perhaps swing a national election.Jeh Johnson
Both the nature of misinformation campaigns and the reluctance of some US politicians to take seriously the threat posed by election meddling means that when (not if, according to Lute) Russia interferes again they will have a proven blueprint.
3.
How can the public and private sectors best work together?
Jump to idea
16:43
Russia’s influence in the US elections has dominated headlines, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly special. Douglas Lute and Katie Harbath make a compelling case for contextualizing Russian interference in US elections as once instance of a very troubling trend:
This exchange has been lightly edited for clarity.
-
Douglas Lute: This is not just a bilateral issue, this is not just Russia as an attacker. We’re kind of fixated on that shiny object. But China, Iran, and North Korea also have state-led, meaningful capabilities in this realm, and America is not the only democracy that’s under assault and vulnerable …... We should appreciate that democracy, even outside the US, is under assault by a lot of bad actors.
-
Katie Harbath: To your point, everyone’s been fixated on Russia and now everyone thinks Russia is trying to infiltrate their elections. But every country really does have unique challenges to their own democracy, and different laws. Not all countries ban foreign donations in their elections. We [Facebook] ran into an interesting case with the EU elections, where we decided to not allow cross-border advertising. Some countries within the EU allow foreign funding of candidates, and so it could be very easy for a state actor to fund that candidate and then they run ads from that country into, let’s say, Germany or France.
Facebook is a global institution, and misinformation doesn’t respect geopolitical boundaries. Protecting the integrity of elections from insidious new methods is a concern that will likely plague democracies for years to come.
Learn More
Additional Information
Resources
website
Explore More
World
1156 ideas
Collection
Women's History Month: Making Strides in a New Era
Global conflicts and health crises have put into stark relief deeply-ingrained gender roles in society. Yet the past years have also seen record-high numbers of women running...
26 items
Mar 6, 2024
Our Changing World with Thomas Friedman
The world seems to be moving and evolving faster than ever before, and democratic ideals are under threat in many countries around the globe. New York Times columnist and jour...
Podcast — 33m
Feb 21, 2024
Forging a Path to Ethical AI
It doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to put the generative artificial intelligence genie back in the bottle. But we might still be able to prevent some potential damage...
Podcast — 55m
Q&A
How Kids Are Fighting Climate Change, One Lawsuit at a Time
How is constitutional law being harnessed to address climate change? Ahead of Aspen Ideas: Climate, we caught up with Andrea Rodgers, Senior Attorney at Our Children's Trust,...
Article
Feb 14, 2024
Redemption Song?
History has the power to teach us what to do in the present, but do we actually make good use of that tool? Many events in our recent past might suggest otherwise. American hi...
Podcast — 55m
Collection
Black History Month: Honoring the Past, Imagining the Future
Of course, Black history shouldn’t just be a month-long nod on our yearly calendar — it is inextricable from American history and fundamental to the very soul of our nation an...
21 items
Jan 24, 2024
Decoding Animal Communication with A.I.
Scientists could actually be close to being able to decode animal communication and figure out what animals are saying to each other. And more astonishingly, we might even fin...
Podcast — 52m
Collection
The World that MLK Built
The unflinching humanity and morality that Martin Luther King, Jr. embodied is part of what makes his legacy so lasting. In addition to his preeminent civil rights work, he sp...
8 items
Dec 20, 2023
A Deeper Look at the Immigrant Experience
The stories we hear about migrants trying to escape difficult circumstances tend to focus on hardship, conflict, statistics and policy. We rarely get a deep look at any of the...
Podcast — 57m
Collection
Designing for Better Health
Whether expressed through systems that are easy to navigate, devices that are friendly to their users, and spaces that are pleasing to the eye, thoughtful design can break dow...
10 items
Nov 16, 2023
What Happened to the American Dream?
Most Americans today would agree that the dream of supporting a family and living a good life on one full time salary is not available to vast numbers of people. Wages have no...
Podcast — 52m
Nov 9, 2023
How Do We Put Guardrails on A.I.?
Artificial intelligence is making world-changing advances every day. But these powerful tools can be used for malicious and nefarious purposes just as easily as they can be us...
Podcast — 51m
Oct 26, 2023
Building a Zero Carbon American Future
Climate change catastrophes are already happening with increasing regularity, and it’s clear we need to take action. The Biden administration has set a target of zero carbon e...
Podcast — 59m
Oct 18, 2023
Who Can Track and Hack Our Brains?
A technological future where our brain waves could be monitored and our thoughts decoded and analyzed — sometimes against our will — is not as far away as we think. But our ex...
Podcast — 52m
Sep 27, 2023
Investing in Shared American Prosperity
Even when the economy is booming and unemployment is low, millions of Americans still face economic hardship. And in the last few years the United States has dealt with supply...
Podcast — 48m
Collection
Bold Goals: The Biomedical Science of Tomorrow
Setting audacious goals helps to redefine what is achievable in health, medicine, and science. As we deepen understanding of the human genome, unravel the mysteries of the bra...
9 items
Sep 6, 2023
Thinking, Innovating and A.I. with Walter Isaacson
Artificial intelligence is clearly going to change our lives in multiple ways. But it’s not yet obvious exactly how, and what the impacts will be. We can predict that certain...
Podcast — 53m
Aug 30, 2023
Harnessing A.I. in Education with Sal Khan
When Sal Khan created Khan Academy, he was trying to scale up the successful experiences he’d had tutoring his cousins one-on-one in math. He saw how effective it could be for...
Podcast — 56m
Collection
The Edge of Intelligence
Everywhere you look, there’s a headline about the power of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our lives in ways we have not yet imagined. From advancing medicine t...
10 items
Aug 16, 2023
Wicked Problem: The Road Ahead for Immigration Policy
Almost everyone agrees that immigration policy in the United States is lacking, but despite decades of debate, Congress has not been able to pass comprehensive reform on the i...
Podcast — 40m
Sorry, we couldn't find any results
Clear filters
