The purpose of the project was to provide information and research for election officials at the state and local level in coordination with federal officials to prevent foreign interference in the 2020 election from hostile foreign governments and non-state actors. The project published resource guides about blocking the hacking of election systems and the use of misinformation and disinformation to stoke division around wedge issues and cast doubt on election results. The project was founded by Eric Rosenbach, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in the Obama Administration. Rosenbach recruited Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, and Matt Rhoades, Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign manager, to join the project as co-founders. ^{1 2}

Background

The Defending Digital Democracy Project was founded by Eric Rosenbach in 2017. Rosenbach was a former chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration who became the co-director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs along with his former boss, Obama administration Defense Secretary Ash Carter. ³

In founding the Defending Digital Democracy Project, Rosenbach recruited Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, and Matt Rhoades, Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign manager to join the project as co-founders and fellows. ⁴

The focus of the project was both cybersecurity and cyber deterrence in response to foreign governments and non-state actors conducting efforts to “hack systems, alter the outcome, and undermine confidence in our elections.” ⁵

Activities

Throughout its existence, the Defending Digital Democracy Project engaged over 1,000 election officials across 40 states to conduct national training events for election officials, conduct tabletop exercises, and publish playbooks for countering cyberattacks and misinformation. ⁶

Ahead of the 2020 election, the organization published its Election Influence Operations Playbook for State and Local Election Officials which published guides to counter cyberattacks and misinformation including ranking incidents by severity and reporting misinformation posts to social media platforms and state or federal law enforcement. ⁷

In 2021, the project issued its “Beyond 2020” report to recommend further improvements to be made to electoral systems in the United States. The recommendations for the report included highlighting a lack of consistent IT infrastructure, the need for more federal support of elections, insufficient strategies to counter disinformation and “hold social media platforms accountable,” and hard-to-access training for election officials. ⁸

People

The Defending Digital Democracy Project was founded and directed by Eric Rosenbach, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in the Obama administration and co-led the Belfer Center with Carter after the end of the Obama administration. Rosenbach is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School and is the Director of the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program at the Belfer Center. He also served on the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board and on the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Business Board in the Biden administration. ⁹

Other individuals that worked as fellows or advisors to the project included Heather Adkins, director of Information Security and Privacy at Google; Jan Neutze, director of Cybersecurity Policy at Microsoft; and Alex Stamos, former Chief Security Officer for Facebook. ¹⁰

1. “Director’s Message.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy#!director%E2%80%99s-message
2. “Defending Digital Democracy.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy
3. “Eric Rosenbach.” Harvard Kennedy School. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/eric-rosenbach
4. “Director’s Message.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy#!director%E2%80%99s-message
5. “Director’s Message.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy#!director%E2%80%99s-message
6. “Director’s Message.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy#!director%E2%80%99s-message
7. “The Election Influence Operations Playbook for State and Local Election Officials.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/IO%20Playbook%202%20Part%202.pdf
8. “Defending Digital Democracy.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy
9. “Eric Rosenbach.” Harvard Kennedy School. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/eric-rosenbach
10. “Director’s Message.” Belfer Center: Defending Digital Democracy Project. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.belfercenter.org/project/defending-digital-democracy#!people