If you have been following the news for the past two years, you have likely seen that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was tasked with a very important job. The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.
The full Mueller report, which was released to the public today, shows the extent to which Russia conducted an organized campaign of information warfare against America with the goal of spreading chaos and distrust in our elections.
The facts are disturbing: millions of Americans went to the ballot box in 2016 without knowing that a foreign adversary had taken extraordinary steps to pose as American political activists online, purchase political ads, and hack a major party nominee and campaign committee.
It's critical now that we turn our attention to what we can do stop this from happening again.
Russia spent a large sum of money on ads that explicitly supported or opposed a presidential candidate. These ads were not subject to reporting – and Congress must work to change this law for digital ads.
It is time to focus on how we can strengthen our election system to prevent foreign interference through illicit online activity, and to clarify our campaign laws so that the opportunity no longer exists for foreign actors to influence elections.
This is a national priority, and it must be treated as such. Foreign interference in our elections is an urgent national security threat. Any foreign entity may use the Russian model to intervene in 2020 and beyond, once again threatening our right to democratic self-governance.