US offers $10 million reward to prevent election interference

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered a $10 million reward aimed at preventing foreign interference in the November election.

The reward marks one of the most public signs that members of President Donald Trump’s administration are taking election meddling seriously, despite anger by Trump himself over findings that Russia has assisted him.

The State Department has accused Russia of waging an increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaign. Pompeo pointed to efforts by “Russia and other malign actors” as he announced the effort to stop election interference.

The United States “is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, interferes with US elections by engaging in certain criminal cyber activities,” said Pompeo.

US intelligence concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to support Trump, especially through manipulation of social media, although it did not find that his campaign colluded with Moscow.

Trump has been outraged by the “Russia hoax” and in February removed the director of national intelligence over a briefing to lawmakers that found that Russia appeared to want Trump to win a new term on November 3.

Last month four top Democratic lawmakers with access to intelligence said they were gravely concerned about a new “foreign interference campaign,” but their joint statement was notably not signed by members of Trump’s Republican Party.

US officials have also warned less specifically about election efforts by China. The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which is in charge of studying and countering foreign propaganda, warned in a report that Russia has invested massively in disinformation efforts on the internet.

“The Kremlin bears direct responsibility for cultivating these tactics and platforms as part of its approach to using information as a weapon,” it said.

The report did not focus specifically on election meddling but said that Russia has relied has boosted propaganda such as stirring up opposition to the United States.

It also reported that Russian sites were active in promoting unfounded narratives that COVID-19 was planted by the CIA or Microsoft billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates, the study said.

“When one of these proxy sites is publishing information, it’s murky as to where it’s actually coming from,” said Lea Gabrielle, head of the Global Engagement Center.

“Russia tries to hide its affiliation with these different proxy sites and that’s what makes them effective,” she told reporters. “It’s difficult for just the average person who is online to look at these sites and know that it’s actually Russian disinformation.”

Pompeo has promoted a theory discounted by mainstream scientists that the new coronavirus came out of a Chinese laboratory.