The Atlantic

Reporting Foreign Meddling in Elections Shouldn’t Be Optional

A member of the House Intelligence Committee unveils a bill that would obligate campaigns to tell the FBI when foreign powers offer dirt on their opponents.
Source: Aaron Bernstein / Reuters

Over the past year, I’ve spent hours listening to witnesses talk about the events of the 2016 campaign. The House Intelligence Committee, on which I sit, has been investigating Russian interference in the election. Multiple members of Donald Trump’s campaign, businesses, and family, I’ve learned, were contacted by individuals linked to the Russian government—but none of them, so far as we know, reported these contacts to law-enforcement agencies.

For years, America has helped protect against terrorist attacks by telling Americans, “If you see something, say

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min readAmerican Government
How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t
Near the end of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about whether Colorado could exclude former President Donald Trump from its ballot as an insurrectionist, the attorney representing voters from the state offered a warning to the justices—one evoking
The Atlantic4 min read
Your Phone Has Nothing on AM Radio
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. There is little love lost between Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Rashida Tlaib. She has called him a “dumbass” for his opposition to the Paris Climate Agre
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop

Related Books & Audiobooks