Foreign meddling in 2020 US polls: Counterintelligence chief warns voters

Voters should be on high alert for foreign interference in the Nov 3 US election, the US counterintelligence agency chief said on Friday in a rare warning that the public should screen information and report suspicious actions.

William Evanina, chief of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), said that with just over 100 days to the election, it was "imperative" his agency share with voters some of the information about possible interference that US spies have given to campaigns and legislators.

"The American public has a role to play in securing the election," said Evanina, who directs the counterintelligence branch of the US Office the Director of National Intelligence.

Given the complexity of US vote counting and auditing systems, Evanina said it would be "extraordinarily difficult for foreign adversaries to broadly disrupt or change vote tallies without detection."

However, Evanina said US spy agencies now see foreign adversaries trying to compromise US political campaigns and candidates, as well as elections infrastructure. He said foreign nations are trying to influence US voters via social and traditional media, using issues including the coronavirus pandemic and domestic protests as disinformation fodder.

Evanina said his agency was mainly concerned with interference by China, Russia and Iran, though other unnamed countries and non-state actors "could also do harm to our electoral process."