WASHINGTON, D.C — National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, your former senator, testified before the House Intelligence committee Tuesday morning.
The committee was eager to be filled in on any security threats they should be aware of as we continue into the New Year, and Coats obliged with quite an extensive list from security threats from Russia, China, and other “foreign actors.”
“The composition of the current threats were face is a toxic mix,” Coats said to the panel. “A mix of strategic competitors, regional powers, weak or failed states, and non-state actors using a variety of tools and overt and subtle ways to achieve their goals.”
Coats said you can expect more efforts by hackers to meddle in the 2020 U.S. elections.
“Election security has been and will continue to be a top priority for the intelligence community,” said Coats. “We assess that foreign actors will view the 2020 elections as an opportunity to advance that interests and they learn from past experiences from previous elections.”
Finally, Coats said adding to the fray is Russia trying to influence your perception of a variety things in the U.S. today using social media. He said Russia will continue to use social media to spread misinformation that he said is aimed at dividing today’s societies.
(PHOTO: Will McNamee/Getty Images)
