The Russian connectionU.S. not ready to fend off Russian meddling in the 2018 midterms: GOP, Dem. lawmakers

Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence (DNI), told lawmakers two weeks ago that “the Unsaid States is under attack” by Russia. This attack consists of three components: a broad disinformation campaign on social media platforms to weaken American society by deepening political polarization and intensifying acrimony and conflict along racial, ethnic, and religious lines; an ambitious effort to undermine and discredit American democracy by attacking the U.S. election infrastructure; and the infiltration of the U.S. critical infrastructure to gather information on how this infrastructure is managed and operated, and leave behind “sleeper” sabotage malware which would allow Russia, at the time of its choosing, to disrupt and sabotage power plants – including nuclear power plants; water treatment facilities; dams and reservoirs; transportation systems, and more.

On Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee held hearings about how the United States was addressing the second component of this three-pronged Russian attack. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former DHS secretary Jeh Johnson were confronted by pointed question from both Republicans and Democrats. The Committee to Investigate Russia notes that lawmakers’ questions revealed the United States is not prepared to fend off likely Russian meddling in the 2018 midterms.

Here is a summary of press reports:

CNN: 

Both homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former department head Jeh Johnson testified before the committee Wednesday, one day after the panel issued a list of recommendations to bolster election security at the state and federal levels. The rare appearance of both the current and former secretaries gave lawmakers the chance to probe the government’s response across administrations.

Nielsen told lawmakers that the 2018 midterms and future elections are “clearly potential targets for Russian hacking attempts,” but she … said DHS has improved information sharing with states and has expanded its assistance for cybersecurity risk assessments to the states. States can now have three election officials with security clearances to receive classified information, and DHS provides “one day read-ins” about threats for senior officials.

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Nielsen said 20 state officials — out of a possible 150 — had received clearances to date, saying they were working with other agencies to speed up the process.