Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity

The Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity

The Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI) seeks to fill a critical gap by fostering a global and collective approach to curb the ongoing wave of election interference and raises awareness of public and governments about the risks of interference. It helps sharing best practices between decision-makers, public and private institutions and actors across the globe and applies on the ground new models of cooperation and technologies to empower civil society and governments to defend democracy against malign interference. Since its launch in 2018, the TCEI has established itself as an important global voice and player on the risks and solutions to combat foreign election meddling. The TCEI brings together more than a dozen eminent persons from backgrounds in politics, media and the private sector chaired by former NATO Chief and Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and former US Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff.

Mission Statement of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity

The Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity helps advance solutions to protect integrity of democratic elections.

Election interference is a major threat to the universal right of people to take part in democratic elections. Still, democratic governments and technology companies around the world are scrambling to meet the challenges of the latest election meddling tactics and technologies.

This is a global phenomenon, with instances of election interference seen in countries from Mexico to North-Macedonia, Ukraine to Kenya, Taiwan to Turkey.

Yet attacks and coordinated manipulations are no longer coming from foreign malign powers alone: increasingly, the cross-border disinformation playbook is used by domestic actors trying to sow divisions and polarisation in both authoritarian and democratic contexts.

The TCEI brings together eminent persons from different backgrounds with one shared goal: to ensure people decide freely, based on independent information, who should represent them.

Our priorities for 2023

  • Advocate for the Pledge for Election Integrity as a golden standard for parliamentarians in democracies around the world.
  • Continue to provide a global platform for the debate on election interference and disinformation with our #DefendDemocracy webinar series.
  • The fight against foreign interference in our democracies through disinformation and cyber attacks is not limited to the transatlantic hemisphere. We are therefore committed to expanding our global network and engagement to ensure a multistakeholder exchange of threat perceptions, common patterns, and successful counterstrategies and best practices around the world on an ongoing basis.
  • Highlight the importance of media literacy initiatives in the fight against mis- and disinformation, e.g. with our online game „The Disinformation Diaries“.
  • Monitor technological innovation and promote policy solutions to address the challenge of foreign election meddling and malign synthetic media like Deepfakes.

Commission members

The Commission brings together around a dozen prominent public figures from both the U.S. and Europe with government as well as private sector and media backgrounds.

Co-Chairs

Anders Fogh
Rasmussen

NATO Secretary General (2009-2014), Founder, Alliance of Democracies Foundation, Rasmussen Global

Michael
Chertoff

United States Secretary of Homeland Security (2005-2009)

Members

Felipe
Calderon

President of Mexico (2006-2012) 

Eileen
Donahoe

Executive Director, Global Digital Policy Incubator, Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University; U.S. Ambassador to UN Human Rights Council (2010-2013)

Toomas Hendrik
Ilves

President of Estonia (2006-2016) 

Natalie
Jaresko

Executive Director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, Finance Minister of Ukraine (2014-2016)

Tanit
Koch

Managing Director n-tv and Editor-in-Chief Newsroom, RTL Germany; Editor-in-Chief of German newspaper BILD (2016-2018)

Jeanne
Meserve

Moderator and Writer; Anchor and correspondent at ABC news and CNN (1984-2011), Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security (2011-2017); Winner of two Emmy Awards

Victor
Pinchuk

Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist, founder of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation

Marietje
Schaake

International Policy Director, Cyber Policy Center and International Policy Fellow, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence – Stanford University; President of CyberPeace Institute; Member of the European Parliament (2009-2019)

Joanna
Shields

CEO of BenevolentAI; UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security (2015- 2017); Prime Minister's Special Representative on Internet Safety (2017-2018); Member of House of Lords

John
Negroponte

United States Deputy Secretary of State (2007-2009), Director of National Intelligence (2005-2007)

Allan
Rock

President Emeritus at the University of Ottawa (2008-2016), Canadian Ambassador to the UN (2004-2006) and Canadian Health Minister (1997-2002)

Former Members

Joe
Biden

Vice President of the United States (2009-2017), President of the United States (2021-)

Jeanine
Hennis-Plasschaert

Defence Minister of the Netherlands (2012-2017), Member of the Dutch Parliament

John
Kerry

U.S. Secretary of State (2013-2017); U.S. Senator (1985-2013), U.S. Special Envoy on Climate (2021-)

Nick
Clegg

Deputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015), Vice President of Global Affairs, Facebook (2018-)

Interviews with members of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity