Bio

Mollie Saltskog is a Senior Intelligence Analyst at The Soufan Group and a Research Fellow at The Soufan Center. A GIAC-certified Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analyst, she provides research and analysis on special projects relating to international and national security.  

Her areas of expertise include counterterrorism and geopolitics, with a focus on disinformation and other forms of malign information manipulation. In her role at TSG, Mollie provides expert research, analysis, and consultancy for projects both in the private and public sector. She has briefed a range of government actors in both the United States and Europe, as well as presented at multilateral policy forums.

She has published work in Foreign Affairs, Lawfare, the National Interest, Russia Matters at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center, Defense One, and War on the Rocks. Mollie frequently provides expert commentary to the media and has been interviewed by Politico, the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CNBC, France24 News, Global News Canada, Task & Purpose, and Swedish TV, radio, and print media. 

She is a Schwarzman Scholar with a master’s in global affairs from Tsinghua University in Beijing. Awarded a bachelor’s with honors in global affairs from Yale–NUS College in Singapore, she speaks English, Swedish, and Mandarin.

Abstract

The threat posed by malign information manipulation, such as disinformation, is growing. Today, the threat is dynamic, multifaceted and more state and non-state actors utilize information manipulation to achieve their own political goals. This threat impacts all areas of our democratic societies: eroding the trust in democratic integrity, elections, and our institutions, stoking anti-government sentiments, damaging the reputation and bottom-line of private sector entities, and threatening the missions of non-governmental organizations and multinational actors.

At The Soufan Group, Mollie has worked on mapping malign information manipulation campaigns and actors, and analyzing trends impacting the threat landscape. Her research and analysis has focused on everything from the QAnon movement in the United States to information manipulation as a weapon in the war in Ukraine and foreign amplification of disinformation narratives about Sweden's NATO membership. She will share her experiences, research, and analysis to inform a discussion about the current state of the threat, trendlines, and possible solutions. 

Register here for the seminar