Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years and 2020
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURPHY. Madam Chair, my amendment, which I am coleading with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York, involves a looming threat to American security and American democracy from the use of deepfake technology by our Nation's adversaries.
As policymakers, we must understand this challenge and put in place a whole-of-government strategy to address it in a way that protects our interests and is consistent with our values. The U.S. intelligence community has an important role to play in this effort.
The House Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Schiff, recently held an illuminating and alarming hearing on deepfakes. As the witnesses at that hearing testified, technology now enables anyone with a computer, internet access, and technical skills to create fabricated and relatively convincing video and audio recordings that depict individuals doing or saying things that they did not do or say.
The technology behind deepfakes is rapidly evolving. Soon individuals will be able to create highly realistic and difficult to debunk video and audio content. At a time when Americans are already being inundated, especially online, by a flood of false or misleading information, deepfake technology has the potential to make it even harder for the American public to trust what it sees and hears.
It is easy to imagine the different ways in which deepfake technology could be exploited by America's foes. Imagine a Russian intelligence service creating a video purporting to show an American Presidential candidate accepting a bribe or an audio recording purporting to reveal an American Secretary of State saying something inflammatory about an ally. Or imagine a Chinese-produced video that falsely depicts the commander of a U.S. military unit committing a war crime. Such efforts, if not quickly exposed as false by the United States, could create havoc.
In today's world, perhaps the biggest national security threat we face is not the risk of direct military conflict between the United States and Russia, China, Iran, or another adversary. Instead, the threat lurks in the gray space short of kinetic action. It is illustrated by Russian efforts to intervene in the 2016 Presidential election, most notably in my home State of Florida. It is the threat from authoritarian governments using new technologies to spread disinformation, sow discord, create divisions, and cause the American people to lose faith in our democratic form of government.
To address this threat, our amendment requires the DNI to prepare a report for Congress on how foreign countries are using or could use deepfake technology to harm the United States and to explain how the intelligence community is working to develop appropriate countermeasures. This report will help us to understand the problem and to combat it more effectively.
We must get this right because the stakes couldn't be higher. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Chairman Schiff).
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Mrs. MURPHY. Madam Chair, I urge support for this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time
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Mrs. MURPHY. Madam Chair, our amendment would require the Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the Secretaries of State and Defense, to prepare a report for Congress on efforts by Iran to establish long-term influence in Syria using both hard and soft power and the threat that this proposes to U.S. interests and allies, including Israel.
Syria's civil war, which began in 2011, has brought an influx of Iranian-backed forces into Syria. Iran and Syria are both designated by the United States as state sponsors of terrorism. Their military partnership dates back decades, and Iran regards Syria as one of its most important allies.
Iran and Iranian-backed forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, have provided manpower, training, weapons, and funding to the Syrian Government, led by President Bashar al-Assad. This assistance, coupled with support from Russia, has enabled the Assad government to retain or regain territory in Syria, and the Assad government currently maintains control over roughly two-thirds of the country.
Iran's goals in Syria include protecting the Assad government, increasing Iran's regional influence, threatening Israel from a closer location, building weapon production facilities and other military infrastructure, and securing a land bridge that would connect Iran to Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Lebanon via Iraq and Syria.
It is clear that Iran is seeking long-term influence in Syria and is pursuing this objective through military, political, and social means.
Iran's effort to establish a military presence in Syria has led to repeated confrontations with Israel. In February of 2018, Israel shot down an Iranian drone flying over Israeli territory and then targeted the base in Syria from which the drone was launched. In May 2018, Israel launched strikes against Iranian military installations in Syria. Iran responded by firing missiles at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, and Israel then targeted nearly all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria.
Iranian and Iranian-backed forces also seek to enhance their influence in Syria through nonmilitary means, such as purchasing strategic real estate, constructing Shia religious centers and schools, securing loyalty from Sunni tribes, and inducing the Assad government to open Farsi language departments at Syrian universities.
In a startling move, President Trump has proposed to withdraw all or most U.S. forces from Syria, a proposal I view as a profound mistake. But regardless of the number of U.S. troops deployed to Syria, I believe it is a vital U.S. interest to prevent Iran, Hezbollah, and other Iranian-backed forces from establishing an enduring presence in Syria.
Our amendment would require the DNI to assess how Iran is using hard and soft power to gain long-term influence in Syria. Among other things, the IC would examine how U.S. efforts to strengthen Kurdish forces in Syria could undermine Iran, how the U.S. helps Israel identify threats from Iran and Syria, and how Iran's influence over Syrian institutions could increase the likelihood that the Islamic State will reconstitute itself inside Syria.
I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mrs. MURPHY. Madam Chair, I urge support for the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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