Imagine American politics for a moment as a laboratory experiment. A foreign adversary (let's call it "Russia") begins to play with the subjects, using carrots and sticks to condition their behavior. The adversary develops tools to dial up anger and resentment inside the lab bubble, and even recruits unwitting accomplices to perform specific tasks.

This 21st-century political dystopia isn't drawn from a "spec script" that just landed in Hollywood. It's a summary of two reports on Russia's Internet Research Agency published this week by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The studies describe a sophisticated, multilevel Russian effort to use every available tool of our open society to create resentment, mistrust and social disorder.

For a century, Russian intelligence agents have been brilliant at creating false fronts and manipulating opposition groups. Now, thanks to the internet, they seem to be perfecting these dark arts.