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
January 2018
Online Information Laundering: The Role of Social Media
Want to combat disinformation? Borrow a page from the anti-money laundering handbook. Russia’s ability to successfully conduct hybrid warfare is predicated on the creation of a fog of ambiguity between the Kremlin’s actions and the Kremlin itself. [...]
Russian Influence in Mexican and Colombian Elections
Russia’s ongoing effort to destroy faith in democracy is not only a problem for the United States and Europe. The Kremlin has set its sights on destabilizing next year’s Mexican and Colombian elections — even capturing the attention of National Secu [...]
November 2017
Internet Communication Disclaimer
In response to the Federal Election Committee’s call for public comments on internet disclaimer rules, Laura Rosenberger and Jamie Fly, the director and co-director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, submitted the following document that outli [...]
Can Congress Tackle Digital Disinformation?
WASHINGTON — Earlier this week, representatives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to answer questions about the use of their platforms in the dissemination of Russian disinformation before [...]
October 2017
Russian Government’s Fission Know-How Hard at Work in Europe
In May 2016, prominent Russia expert Mark Galeotti warned that “the [Russian] Foreign Intelligence Service and FSB are now especially active in Europe, and the organizations they support include … separatists from Spain to Scotland.” Fast-forward to [...]
Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online: Working with Tech to Find Solutions
Statement Prepared for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism A decade ago, al Qaeda in Iraq littered YouTube with violent videos. A few years later, Twitter became a playground for al Shabaab’s violent tir [...]
Insinuation and Influence: How the Kremlin Targets Americans Online
The objective of Kremlin influence operations, part of a larger set of tactics and strategies known as active measures, is to make the target population more amenable to Kremlin wants and desires. They achieve this either by gaining a sympathetic he [...]
The Active Measures Orchestra: An Examination of Russian Influence Operations Abroad
“The approaches used by Moscow include control of the press in foreign countries; outright and partial forgery of documents; use of rumors, insinuation, altered facts, and lies; use of international and local front organizations; clandestine operati [...]
September 2017
Russia’s Interference in Germany Will Continue beyond the September 24 Elections
On September 24, Germany holds a nationwide election. If the polls and experts are accurate, it should be a humdrum affair. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will receive the majority of the votes, sending her to a fourth t [...]
Methodology of the Artikel 38 Dashboard
The Artikel 38 Dashboard, hosted by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, monitors Russian influence operations on Twitter that target German-language audiences. The following document explains exactly what the dashboard shows and the methodology us [...]
Die Methodologie des Artikel 38 Dashboards
The Artikel 38 Dashboard, hosted by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, monitors Russian influence operations on Twitter that target German-language audiences. The following document explains exactly what the dashboard shows and the methodology us [...]
August 2017
The Game Has Changed: Russian Interference and the Alliance for Securing Democracy
Global democracy faces a new threat. The 2016 U.S. general election marked the first time in history that the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the Director of National [...]