FMIC is led and staffed by a diverse team of professionals from across the IC focused on mitigating threats to democracy and U.S. national interests from foreign malign influence.
FMIC serves as the primary U.S government organization for integrating intelligence pertaining to FMI, which entails managing the IC’s collection resources, building partnerships, and advancing strategic analysis, while protecting the privacy and civil liberties of the American people.
FMIC also houses the Election Threats Executive (ETE), which serves as the IC’s coordinating and integrating authority on all election security activities, initiatives, and programs. In this role, FMIC leads the IC’s efforts to identify and assess foreign malign influence and interference in U.S. elections.
History
Authorized by Congress and established by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC) began operating on September 23, 2022. FMIC was authorized under 50 U.S.C. §§ 3058, 3059.
The Director of FMIC reports to the DNI and serves as the DNI’s principal advisor on foreign malign influence threats.
FMIC also houses the Election Threats Executive, which was established in 2019 and serves as the IC’s coordinating authority on election security.
Organization
FMIC is composed of three groups:
- Mission Management
- Partner Engagement
- Analytic Integration
FMIC works closely with the National Intelligence Council, the National Intelligence Management Council, and our partners across the Intelligence Community.
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.
FMIC leads the intelligence community on threats to democracy and U.S. national interests from foreign malign influence, which is defined as subversive, undeclared, coercive, or criminal activities by foreign governments, non-state actors, or their proxies to affect another nation’s popular or political attitudes, perceptions, or behaviors to advance their interests by driving integration and providing timely, rigorous, apolitical and insightful intelligence and support to inform national security decisions and protect our nation.
To accomplish this mission, FMIC:
- Manages the IC’s collection and analysis resources, with an eye to identifying and addressing gaps;
- Builds partnerships, with government, civil society, and the private sector;
- Advances strategic analysis, drawing on expertise from all elements of the IC to provide warning on foreign adversaries’ capabilities, intentions, and operations.
