Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

In the aftermath of a Russian influence operations against the U.S. presidential election of 2016 there was a change in governmental behavior. Since it was not known whether learning processes had caused these behavioral changes, the study aimed to examine the lessons learnedas well as their implementation. By using process tracing as a method, this essay established a causal link between the situation at hand and crisis induced learning by the U.S. Government.The characteristics of lessons were then examined more closely, and explained using the theory of crisis induced learning. It was concluded that the crisis induced lessons were mostly singleloop, as the crisis to a limited extent highlighted flaws in societal premises. They were mainlyaimed at improving crisis response, because focusing on the antagonistic reasons behind the crisis was less fruitful. They were predominantly inter-crisis, because uncertainty, timepressure and stress made intra-crisis learning difficult. Finally, most lessons were distilled (not implemented), due to a shift in the government’s priorities. In the end, not all behavioral changes could be linked to governmental lessons learned, which calls for further research.