An increasing number of foreign actors, including nonstate actors, are seeking to influence U.S. elections, and while Russia, China and Iran are the most significant, they are far from alone, U.S. officials told a Senate committee on Wednesday.
"Specifically, Russia remains the most active foreign threat to our elections," said Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. "The Russian government's goals in such influence operations tend to include eroding trust in U.S. democratic institutions, exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States, and degrading Western support to Ukraine."
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the Senate Intelligence Committee's chair, said declassified intelligence assessments identified not just Russia, China and Iran, but also Cuba, Venezuela, Islamic militants "and a range of foreign hacktivists and profit-motivated cybercriminals" as seeking to influence U.S. politics.