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.
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Threat Actors
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September 2023
Meta Report Highlights Lack of Cross-Platform Coordination on Information Operations
Meta’s recent report on the company’s takedown of a Chinese government information campaign that was the “largest cross-platform operation” ever, and of several smaller influence campaigns that originated in Turkey, Iran, and Russia, named hundreds [...]
Innovation is Needed–and Possible
Introduction Democratic backsliding in old, new, rich, and poor democracies has accelerated, as International IDEA, Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) have all studied. Yet they have been slow to res [...]
August 2023
5 Takeaways from the War in Ukraine: Military Bloggers Dashboard
Over the course of the war in Ukraine, a loose network of Russian military bloggers on Telegram have provided a fervently nationalistic, though at times highly critical, view of Russia’s “special military operation”. Providing more unfiltered covera [...]
Congressional Messaging on the War in Ukraine: GOP’s Loud Divisions, Democrats’ Quiet Unity
Overview Congress has approved more than $100 billion in aid for Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Throughout that time, lawmakers have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend that funding, to call for more assistan [...]
Russian State Media Is Not Rushing to Threads Despite Platform’s Lax Regulations
Meta’s Twitter-alternative, Threads, became the fastest app to reach 100 million users. It took five days. The app itself only took seven months to build, a remarkably short start-to-launch period that did not allow the few dozen engineers working o [...]
With Traditional Media in the Tank for Erdoğan, Social Media Became a Crucial Battleground in Turkish Elections
In the May 2023 Turkish elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan failed to secure enough votes to win a majority in the first round outright, forcing a run-off election where he ultimately held on to power. Like other recent elections in Türkiye, t [...]
July 2023
Countering the Weaponization of Election Administration Mistakes
Introduction When people perform tasks in a complex work environment, mistakes are bound to happen. Election systems are no exception. Although the 2020 presidential and 2022 midterm elections in the United States were free, fair, and well-adminis [...]
June 2023
West Supports Ukraine Anti-Corruption Efforts at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London
Thanks to the European Union, this week’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in London will prove to be the most significant international event of the year to rally support for a thriving Ukraine. Indeed, the EU’s showing was so robust that it signals Ukr [...]
Russia Floods Twitter with Propaganda about the Kakhovka Dam’s Collapse
Overview In the early hours of June 6, an explosion collapsed the Kakhovka dam, releasing a torrent of water across the Ukrainian countryside and igniting a blame game across social media. Evidence collected by the New York Times indicates that Russ [...]
Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Front
Executive Summary Remarkably, while fighting for their lives against Russian invasion, Ukrainians continue to wage their long internal battle against oligarchy and corruption. Ukraine is midway through this generational struggle, which began on th [...]
Lessons from Other Democracies: Ideas for Combatting Mistrust and Polarization in US Elections
Introduction Protections are baked into each stage of US election administration. For example, nearly every state has paper records of each vote, safeguards to ensure the chain of custody of those ballots, and the ability to go back and count each [...]
Erdo-Won: How He Did It and What it Means for Turkey and the World
How did President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan prevail in the face of a terrible economy, his government’s disastrous handling of the February earthquake, numerous corruption scandals, and a unified opposition? Turkey’s election was partly free, but deeply [...]