Security News > 2020 > August > Foreign Threats Loom Ahead of US Presidential Election
Intelligence officials confirmed in recent days that foreign actors are actively seeking to compromise the private communications of "U.S. political campaigns, candidates and other political targets" while working to compromise the nation's election infrastructure.
Because of such secrecy, at least in part, foreign interference largely remains an afterthought in the 2020 contest, even as Republicans and Democrats alike concede it poses a serious threat that could fundamentally reshape the election at any moment.
Trump's team reported no specific foreign threats against the president's campaign, but campaign general counsel Matthew Morgan highlighted the Republican Party's yearslong effort to install various voter ID requirements across the country - including photo verification, signature matching and witness requirements - as an important tool to block foreign interference.
"Contrary to their narrative, the Democrats' efforts to tear these safeguards apart - as they sue in 18 states across the nation - would open our election system up to foreign interference," Morgan said.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview that foreign adversaries "Never stopped trying to interfere with our election process."
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