The FBI's first-ever intelligence chief is sharply questioning his former agency's approach to combating so-called Russian disinformation, warning the effort may exceed the actual threat while infringing on Americans' free speech.
"I struggle with the idea that the Russians are able to mount enough influence to impact our electorate," retired FBI Assistant Director for Intelligence Kevin Brock told the "Just the News, No Noise" television show.
"Their whole goal is to sow discord in this country, to divide us as a people, to create chaos," he said. "But a lot of the issues that they pick on, like racial tensions, Black Lives Matter, Second Amendment rights, abortion rights" are the same ones we are bombarded with "every night through cable television news" and are arguably "equally as divisive."
"I haven't seen any empirical data that these influence campaigns are really having some type of effect on Americans," Brock added. "And so I sometimes question the amount of effort that goes into or concern about all of this stuff and whether or not resources are being applied appropriately."
