President Trump authorises foreign-interference-in-elections review

The US has taken steps to formalise the review of foreign interference in its elections with a view to imposing penalties. An executive order issued on 12 September requires the intelligence and other federal agencies to assess the extent of any foreign interference after every US election. If ‘foreign meddling’ – such as breach of election protocol or the spread of disinformation in an attempt to sway the vote – is found, the executive branch can decide to impose either full blocking sanctions or more calibrated measures against the individual, country or foreign entity responsible.

The formalisation of a process to review interference in US elections follows Russia’s suspected involvement in the 2016 presidential elections. Some in Congress are pushing for mandatory sanctions in the event of election interference: senators Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen introduced a bipartisan bill to this effect in early 2018.

Some sanctions have already been imposed against Russia for its ‘continued destabilising activities’, including cyberattacks and suspected election interference. In March, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) designated five Russian entities – including the Federal Security Service (‘FSB’), the GRU (‘the intelligence arm of the Russian military) and the so-called Russian ‘troll farm’, Internet Research Agency, as well as 19 individuals.

The executive order can be found here:
httpshttps://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-imposing-certain-sanctions-event-foreign-interference-united-states-election/Statement from the President: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-from-the-president-3/