Russia, China, and the 2026 U.S. Elections with Darren Linvill

Russia's influence campaigns aimed at the 2026 U.S. midterms seek, ultimately, to undermine confidence in the vote, not to change votes themselves. In this episode, Darren Linvill, professor of communication and co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University walks through two Russian …

Don't be Fooled by the Domestic Politics of Foreign Assistance with Rachel A. George

Washington keeps misreading the politics of foreign aid, and that misunderstanding is reshaping U.S. power. Rachel A. George of Stanford University breaks down why Americans are far less hostile to aid than politicians claim, what the Trump-era USAID shutdown actually changed, and why the real figh…

Russia vs. 'Pam' with Jessica Huseman

The gap between imagined and actual threats to elections is vast.  Where the public is focused on hacking electronic voting machines, the actual threat, says Votebeat Editorial Director Jessica Huseman, is unlikely to change actual votes. Still, there are real threats, from the 100 suspicious lette…

Special Edition: Mark Jacobson on Effective Election Disinformation

Election interference doesn’t have to change votes to be effective.  The long history of Russian efforts to target specific communities in the United States mirrors domestic efforts to suppress votes.  These measures don’t require AI, social media, or bot-farms—they simply require a decent understa…

“We were here and we can come back again,” with Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson

Hostile information activity is no longer just about false claims, but about intimidation, disruption, and shaping the conditions in which politics and policy unfold. In this week’s episode, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson provide a wide-ranging update on current foreign malign influence efforts, from …

Everything Old is New Again: Russian Election Interference with Dustin Volz

Foreign election interference aims to weaken trust in democracy more than to change vote counts.  New York Times reporter Dustin Volz takes us inside his recent reporting on U.S. intelligence tracking current foreign efforts to influence America’s election.  The Russians are still sewing chaos; the…

Deepfakes and Disinformation with Katelyn Chedraoui

AI deepfakes don’t have to be flawless. They have to look believable enough to make you react. We spoke with CNET reporter Katelyn Chedraoui about where deepfakes are now—and what gives them so much potential as vehicles for disinformation. Her point was simple and unsettling: AI image and video to…

AI and Radicalization in Closed Loops with Simeon Dukić and Natalie Vela

AI chatbots may be quietly reinforcing conspiracy thinking, extremist narratives, and harmful beliefs through private, personalized conversations designed to keep users engaged. Simeon Dukic and Natalie Vela of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue discuss research testing 10 chatbots across anti-Se…

What Really Scares Authoritarians with Scott Fisher and Graig Klein

Authoritarian regimes from Moscow to Beijing fear losing control of their own information eco-systems—more than military exercises, more than economic sanctions, and more than diplomatic isolation.  That’s the conclusion from new research by Scott Fisher and Graig Klein who see in the data evidence…

The Propaganda Manual of the Ukraine War with Thomas Kent

Russia and Ukraine are fighting more than battles on Ukrainian soil, they are fighting a war for minds, and other governments are still playing catch-up. Thomas Kent of the American Foreign Policy Council explains how Ukraine turned a chaotic communications system into a wartime information powerho…