Press Releases

Washington, DC – On Thursday, June 18, 2020 at 12:00 pm ET, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) will convene a virtual hearing, Emerging Trends in Online Foreign Influence Operations: Social Media, COVID-19, and Election Security. This is the second virtual hearing that the Committee will hold, and key senior officials from Facebook, Google and Twitter will testify remotely.

The United States is preparing for its first presidential election since 2016, when Russia’s government mounted its unprecedented active measures campaign to interfere in our democratic processes. It is paramount that all sectors of our society stand vigilant and are prepared to detect and disrupt foreign malign attempts to influence our political and societal discourse – or sway the November vote.

During the open hearing, the Committee will examine:

• The steps taken and policies adopted by the technology sector since 2016 to identify and root out foreign influence operations online and protect against election interference;
• The current state of indicator and data sharing among private-sector actors about potential state-backed, cross-platform influence activity;
• The collaboration between the technology sector and U.S. government authorities to address the threat of covert foreign influence and election interference activities;
• The role of overt, coordinated disinformation or propaganda activity by state-controlled media and official government social media accounts to advance strategic narratives; and
• Any recent identified foreign-linked misinformation efforts involving the COVID-19 pandemic or protests over George Floyd’s murder.

Biographies:

Nathaniel Gleicher

Nathaniel Gleicher, the Head of Security Policy at Facebook, works at the intersection of technology, policy, and law. In that role, he brings Facebook’s security, policy, and legal teams together to ensure a unified front against election interference and information operations. Nathaniel is trained as a computer scientist and a lawyer.

Prior to joining Facebook, he taught computer programming, built and secured computer networks, prosecuted cybercrime at the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as Director for Cybersecurity Policy at the National Security Council.

Nick Pickles

Nick Pickles is the Director of Global Public Policy Strategy and Development at Twitter, where he leads the company's thinking on critical issues at the intersection of tech, public policy, and politics. Previously, he was Head of Public Policy for Twitter in the UK and before that, the Director of the civil liberties and privacy campaign organization, Big Brother Watch.

A law graduate from the University of Durham, he served as President of Durham Students' Union and ran as a candidate in the 2010 UK General Election. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an internationally published music photographer, and a board member of the non-profit BBC Media Action.

Richard Salgado

Richard Salgado is Google llc's Director for law enforcement and information security matters. Richard oversees Google’s worldwide law enforcement and national security efforts, and legal matters relating to data security and investigations. Prior to joining Google, Richard was with Yahoo!, focusing on international security and law enforcement compliance work. He also served as senior counsel in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the United States Department of Justice. As a federal prosecutor, Richard specialized in investigating and prosecuting computer network cases.

In 2005, Richard joined Stanford Law School as a lecturer in law on modern surveillance law, computer crime, and Internet business legal and policy issues. He previously served as an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law Center and George Mason Law School and as a faculty member of the National Judicial College. Richard received his JD from Yale Law School.

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