The Senate Intelligence Committee released its report on election security, the first final installment of several “chapters” comprising its more than two-year, ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Among the report’s findings, published Thursday, are that the Russian government directed “extensive activity” against U.S. election infrastructure that began in at least 2014. It recommends the government create “effective deterrence” against potential foreign attacks.
In a statement, committee chairman Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, said, “In 2016, the U.S. was unprepared at all levels of government for a concerted attack from a determined foreign adversary on our election infrastructure. Since then, we have learned much more about the nature of Russia’s cyber activities and better understand the real and urgent threat they pose.”
Trending News
“The progress they’ve made over the last three years is a testament to what we can accomplish when we give people the opportunity to be part of a solution,” Burr also said.
“Our bipartisan investigation identified multiple problems and information gaps that hindered our ability to effectively respond and defend against the Russian attack in 2016,” said Vice Chairman Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia. “I hope the bipartisan findings and recommendations outlined in this report will underscore to the White House and all of our colleagues, regardless of political party, that this threat remains urgent, and we have a responsibility to defend our democracy against it.”
The committee released its initial findings and recommendations on election security in May 2018. Those findings showed that at least 21 states had their election systems targeted by Russian hackers and that election infrastructure in six states was subjected to malicious attacks. “Russian government-affiliated cyber actors conducted an unprecedented level of activity against state election infrastructure in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. elections,” the report said.
It did not find that any vote tallies or voter registration information had been manipulated or modified in any of the states. The committee also said it had “seen no evidence” that any votes were changed or voting machines were manipulated.
Among the committee’s six principal recommendations in 2018 were the establishment of new cyber norms, enhanced information-sharing, and replacing outdated voting systems.
But U.S. administration officials remain concerned about foreign interference in the upcoming presidential elections in 2020 and have issued repeated warnings. The latest came from former special counsel Robert Mueller, who in testimony Wednesday on his own report on Russian interference in U.S. elections, warned that “the Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election” is among the “most serious” challenges to our democracy he has seen.
And, he told the House Judiciary Committee, “They’re doing it as we sit here.”
