ASD contributes long and short form research products and analysis to inform and engage our audience on a range of issues related to malign foreign interference. In addition, we develop policy recommendations and strategies to close vulnerabilities and safeguard institutions from authoritarian threats.
Focus Areas
Threat Actors
All Posts
February 2022
Roadmap for Reform: Engaging the OSCE in the Fight Against Strategic Corruption
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is uniquely situated and driven by its core values to combat corruption in all its forms, yet it remains an underused resource in the fight against strategic corruption. The Biden admin [...]
Hamilton Toplines: January 24–30, 2022
Russia Russian diplomats and state-directed media last week continued to claim that Russia does not want to go to war in Ukraine, where the Kremlin has perpetuated a conflict since 2014. “If it depends on Russia, there will be no war,” Foreign Minis [...]
January 2022
How is Russia Covering the Crisis in Ukraine?
For months, Russian propagandists have been preparing for a potential war by framing Ukraine and the West as aggressors. We compiled data from our weekly Hamilton 2.0 reports to shine a light on how Russian officials and state media have messaged ar [...]
Hamilton Toplines: January 17–23, 2022
Russia Russian officials and state media last week framed the West as being solely responsible for increasing the chance of war in Ukraine. RT, Sputnik, and others closely followed shipments of Western military aid to the country. Foreign Ministry s [...]
The Development Response to Kleptocracy and Strategic Corruption
Introduction and Summary Kleptocracies do not stop at their own borders. The same actors, networks, tactics, and resources that they wield to prevent democracy and rule of law from sprouting at home are also repurposed for foreign aggression. Whil [...]
Hamilton Toplines: January 10–16, 2022
Russia Russian officials and state media last week focused on three rounds of high-level diplomatic meetings between Russia and the West. Kremlin-linked accounts gave live updates of U.S.-Russia talks in Geneva on January 10. State media complained [...]
Answering the Call: Improving Local Police Response to Ransomware
Towards the end of 2021—a year when ransomware attacks reached record highs—researchers at the Alliance for Securing Democracy investigated how local police are responding to the threat of ransomware. We sought to understand how cases are reported a [...]
Are Russia and China Teaming Up Against America in a Global Information War? Yes and No.
The Kremlin and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as constant critics of the United States, naturally converge in the information space. The themes and narratives they disseminate about the United States and Western democracies show remarkable cons [...]
Hamilton Toplines: January 3–9, 2022
Russia Last week, Russian diplomats and state media launched a high-volume propaganda campaign around protests in Kazakhstan, which were started by anger over fuel prices and suppressed with the help of Russian troops. Kremlin-backed messengers refe [...]
Over a Barrel: Energy Exports as a Political Weapon
Introduction States have wielded energy access as a strategic tool since at least the industrial revolution, when the adoption of coal power made energy a resource to be extracted and exported (or not), just like other strategic resources, including [...]
Hamilton Toplines: December 20, 2021–January 2, 2022
Russia For the past two weeks, Russian diplomats and state media continued to focus most of their attention on the conflict in Ukraine. On December 30, U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged warnings over the Ukraini [...]
December 2021
Hamilton Toplines: December 13–19, 2021
Russia Last week, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published two draft treaties—one for NATO and the other for the United States—that listed a series of demands that would limit the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe. The recommended agreemen [...]