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Smart Talk Monday: Foreign interference in the election and Ahmad running for Pa. Auditor General

  • Scott LaMar
This March 4, 2020, image shows a collection of Instagram posts, which Facebook, the owner of Instagram, yanked off the site in October after concluding that they originated from Russia and had links to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian operation that targeted U.S. audiences in 2016. Social media accounts linked to Russia have begun to disrupt this year’s U.S. presidential race and it’s become harder to detect the posts on platforms like Instagram, according to a new report from University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Young Mie Kim released Thursday, March 5. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

This March 4, 2020, image shows a collection of Instagram posts, which Facebook, the owner of Instagram, yanked off the site in October after concluding that they originated from Russia and had links to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian operation that targeted U.S. audiences in 2016. Social media accounts linked to Russia have begun to disrupt this year’s U.S. presidential race and it’s become harder to detect the posts on platforms like Instagram, according to a new report from University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Young Mie Kim released Thursday, March 5. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

U.S. intelligence agencies say that Russia, China and probably Iran are trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. A recent poll found 59 % of Americans believe foreign governments are trying to interfere.

One of the strategies used to disrupt the election process is to promote information that isn’t true about the candidates or news in the U.S.

The Alliance for Securing Democracy is a bipartisan transatlantic national security advocacy group formed in July 2017 with the stated aim of countering efforts by Russia to undermine democratic institutions in the United States and Europe.

On Monday’s Smart Talk, we are joined by Jessica Brandt, head of policy and research for the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Also on Monday’s show, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Auditor General Nina Ahmad, joins us to discuss priorities before the November election.

The Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General is the chief fiscal watchdog of the commonwealth. It is responsible for using audits to ensure that all state money is spent legally and properly.

Other candidates on the ballot are Republican Tim DeFoor, Green Party candidate Olivia Faison, and Jennifer Moore representing the Libertarian Party. DeFoor appeared on the program October 5th. You can hear that conversation at witf.org. The other candidates have not responded to our invitations to appear.

 

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