Democratic lawmakers warned on Friday that severe staff cuts at an intelligence office that monitors foreign threats to U.S. elections would leave the country vulnerable to interference and subversion from Beijing, as Chinese companies use artificial intelligence as a new weapon in information warfare.
In a letter to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and André Carson of Indiana cited a New York Times story about technology developed by the Chinese company GoLaxy that aims to use artificial intelligence to make influence and information operations far more effective.
The representatives, who both serve on the House China committee, said the cuts at Ms. Gabbard’s office were “stripping away the guardrails that protect our nation from foreign influence.”
In recent weeks, Ms. Gabbard announced staff reductions that all but eliminated the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which tracks efforts by adversarial countries to manipulate U.S. elections and warp American dialogue.
Documents uncovered by Vanderbilt University and examined by The Times detailed new technology developed by GoLaxy that aimed to improve China’s ability to influence public debate. GoLaxy, according to the documents, had done work in Hong Kong and Taiwan and collected information about American lawmakers.
GoLaxy, according to the documents, was using artificial intelligence to track large numbers of people in order to generate pro-Chinese propaganda that could shape public debates, promote the views of China’s government and drown out voices opposed to its policies.
Former officials said American spy agencies had been tracking the company closely in recent years, including its information operations during recent Taiwanese elections. U.S. officials monitored GoLaxy to see if it would conduct information operations in the United States during the 2024 election, though they ultimately determined that the company did not seek to influence conversations at that time.
But former officials and outside experts say the threat to America from Chinese information operations is growing.
“Our research into GoLaxy reveals a clear path toward next-generation capabilities for producing fake but realistic online content and influence campaigns,” said Brett Goldstein of Vanderbilt’s Institute of National Security. “We’ve seen early signs of collection targeting prominent U.S. figures, and while the scope remains unclear, the intent is deeply concerning for American security and democracy.”
Mr. Krishnamoorthi said China’s ruling Communist Party was very interested in trying to “sway the opinions of lawmakers.”
“We aren’t collecting information in an actionable way to defend against it,” he said. “And we are systematically dismantling portions of our government that were dedicated to tracking foreign malign influence.”
Olivia C. Coleman, a spokeswoman for Ms. Gabbard, said the letter from the Democrats was factually wrong and “an obvious effort to spread manufactured panic.”
“Our country’s ability to counter foreign influence operations has never been stronger,” Ms. Coleman said. “As we’ve said publicly on numerous occasions and as Congress has been told directly, core functions and expertise to ensure the safety, security and freedom of the American people have not been affected.”
The annual intelligence threat assessment released by Ms. Gabbard’s office in March warned that China was trying to “expand its coercive and subversive malign influence activities to weaken the United States.”
Mr. Krishnamoorthi said he was concerned the Chinese Communist Party was trying to exploit artificial intelligence to make its coercive campaigns more effective.
“A.I. technology, which we know that China is working assiduously to accelerate, provides a powerful tool to enhance its abilities to conduct more sophisticated influence campaigns designed to manipulate public opinion and sow discord within society,” he said.
During the 2024 election, the Foreign Malign Influence Center held a series of briefings, some for the news media and some for local officials, flagging efforts by Russia and other adversaries to undermine confidence in the vote. They warned of Russian efforts to spread false claims about Vice President Kamala Harris and doctored videos wrongly claiming that ballots in Pennsylvania had been destroyed.
U.S. officials concluded China sought to exert influence in some local races but stayed out of the presidential election, uncertain which candidate it favored.
Shrinking the office and folding it into other parts of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will prevent foreign influence efforts from getting the resources or focus the problem needs, Mr. Krishnamoorthi said.
Ms. Coleman said the functions of the Foreign Malign Influence Center would be folded into other parts of Ms. Gabbard’s office. But she noted that Ms. Gabbard believed the center had been used by the Biden administration to suppress free speech, a contention Mr. Krishnamoorthi disputed.
The cuts to the center were “inexplicable,” Mr. Krishnamoorthi said. Congress created the office because it was concerned about greater influence operations by adversaries.
“We needed a central unit within the intelligence community to analyze and coordinate our response effort,” he said. “The scope of this threat has only magnified since the office was created. So why is the administration hollowing it out? It makes no sense.”
In the letter, the Democrats noted that the Trump administration had also dismantled the F.B.I.’s Foreign Influence Task Force, the State Department had shuttered its office that called out foreign propaganda and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had fired officials who had worked on countering election interference.
Those cuts, Mr. Krishnamoorthi said, put the country at risk. And he said efforts by China and Chinese companies to improve their ability to spread propaganda were particularly concerning in the face of the cuts.
“Instead of strengthening our response, the administration is dismantling our ability to track and counter these threats,” he said.
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
The post U.S. Is Increasingly Exposed to Chinese Election Threats, Lawmakers Say appeared first on New York Times.
