This is Intelligence Matters with former acting director of the CIA, Michael Morrell.

Brought to you by Lockheed Martin. Your mission is ours.

So, disinformation is one of those things that's a little hard to define, but you know it when you see it, right?

It's a type of incorrect or wrong information or falsehood that exists on a continuum or spectrum.

It has to have an intention to create some injury, some desire to confuse, denigrate, disassemble.

It's not a trivial prank, but it has to be something more substantive.

It certainly has an element of intent to do some wrongdoing.

What's the argument for disinformation, even domestic disinformation, being a national security threat?

Disinformation, whether it's foreign or domestic, is a national security threat very simply because it does one of two things.

It either so's discord in our society or it undermines confidence in our democratic institution,

whether that's governmental institutions, the press, or other important societal structures.

And that's why it's a national security threat.

What makes it effective is that disinformation falls on receptive eyes and ears with people not believing about the efficacy of a vaccine

or whether they should trust scientists to wear face masks, etc.

So it's having a real effect on our economy and disinformation is that is and our public health.

So there's no question it affects our national wellbeing.

Glenn Gerstell was the general counsel at the National Security Agency from 2015 to 2020,

one of the most senior legal positions in the intelligence community.

Before serving at NSA, Glenn was in private law practice.

As part of his responsibilities at NSA, Glenn had to deal with the legal issues that arose from the information attack on our democracy by our foreign adversaries.

Glenn has just written a terrific article for the New Yorker on disinformation and what we can do about it,

and he is joining me today to talk about it.

...