Foreign Malign Influence Center

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FMIC is organized around three lines of effort: Analytic Integration, Mission Management, and Partner Engagement. FMIC works closely with the National Intelligence Council, the National Intelligence Management Council, and our partners across the Intelligence Community.

 

Analytic Integration

 

FMIC’s analytic integration focuses on advancing strategic analysis on the FMI problem set, producing assessments of the global threat and U.S. response and warnings, identifying gaps in production, establishing common standards, and providing indications and warning.

 

Mission Management

 

FMIC’s mission management unit focuses on defining the FMI mission space, integrating with existing ODNI intelligence management functions, supporting robust collection, monitoring programmatic investments, and developing capabilities.

 

Partner Engagement

 

FMIC’s partner engagement unit works by, with, and through partners, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to promote awareness of the FMI threat. Efforts include downgrading or declassifying intelligence as appropriate, furthering efforts to develop solutions to difficult and systemic problems, and helping strengthen resiliency efforts.

Foreign Malign Influence Center

Foreign malign influence poses a significant threat to democracy and U.S. interests. The Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC) is charged with strengthening Intelligence Community (IC) efforts to counter the enduring threat posed by hostile foreign actors seeking to influence the U.S. Government, state and local governments, or public opinion and behaviors through overt or covert means. This can include efforts to expose foreign operations to influence U.S. public opinion, interfere in elections within the United States, or steer policy and regulatory decisions in favor of a foreign actor.

 

FMIC serves as the primary U.S. Government organization for integrating intelligence analysis and reporting pertaining to foreign malign influence, including election security. It utilizes expertise from all elements of the IC, including departments and agencies elements with diplomatic and law enforcement functions. FMIC is committed to protecting our democratic processes and institutions from foreign influence and interference. In particular, election security is a top priority for the IC.

 

History

The Foreign Malign Influence Center was activated on September 23, 2022. Chartered by Congress and established by the DNI, FMIC serves as the primary U.S. Government organization for analyzing and integrating all intelligence and other reporting possessed or acquired pertaining to foreign malign influence, including election security.

 

FMIC is the successor organization to the ODNI Election Threats Executive, which was established in 2019 to serve as the DNI’s principal advisor on election threats and related security matters. Election security remains a key mission of the FMIC, and the Director remains dual-hatted as the Election Threats Executive, serving as the coordinating authority for the IC on election security and reporting directly to the DNI.

 

Mission

To counter enduring threats to democracy and U.S. national interests from foreign malign influence actors by integrating analysis, managing the intelligence mission, nurturing partnerships, and providing indications and warning of foreign malign influence.

 

Vision

FMIC protects U.S. citizens from hostile foreign influence, safeguards democratic institutions, and defends U.S. interests.

 

Values

Trust. Transparency. Partnership.

 

Motto

Exposing deception in defense of liberty.

 

Jessica Brandt

Jessica Brandt

 

Jessica Brandt serves as the Director of the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC). She leads the Intelligence Community’s ongoing efforts to identify and assess foreign malign influence as part of a whole-of-government approach to safeguard our democratic institutions and national interests against the hostile actions of foreign governments and non-state actors.

 

Before leading FMIC, Jessica was policy director for the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at the Brookings Institution and a fellow in the Foreign Policy program’s Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology. Her research interests and publications focused on foreign interference, digital authoritarianism, and the implications of emerging technologies for liberal democracies.