Political Influence Operations: How Foreign Actors Seek to Shape U.S. Policy Making

Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. elections brought the problem of foreign influence on American politics into sharp relief. However, externally-sponsored subversion of U.S. decision making has been a shadowy threat to American policy for the better part of a century. Political Influence Operations provides an incisive examination of how external actors have infiltrated American society-from lobbyists, to academia, to the media-in order to further their own objectives. Tromblay draws upon historical examples to demonstrate how U.S. adversaries - and sometimes its ostensible allies - have used the openness of American society against the country's best interests. By identifying vulnerabilities and exposing the underlying dynamics of foreign influence, the book provides a roadmap for U.S. governmental and private sector entities to navigate the currents of international engagement.