Cybersecurity & elections“Our president should be chosen by American citizens, not by foreign adversaries or interests”
Thirty-one members of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group, a bipartisan group of homeland security and counterterrorism experts, last week have issued a statement on the recent Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack. “[T]his is an attack not on one party but on the integrity of American democracy. And it may not be the end of such attacks. It is not unthinkable that those responsible will steal and release more files, and even salt the files they release with plausible forgeries,” members of the group write. “This is unacceptable. Our president should be chosen by American citizens, not by foreign adversaries or interests.”
Thirty-one members of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group, a bipartisan group of homeland security and counterterrorism experts, last week have issued a statement on the recent Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack.
Statement on the Democratic National Committee Hack
- We cannot ignore news reports that the IT servers of the Democratic National Committee have been hacked, with some experts attributing the attacks to hackers affiliated with the Russian Government. Other reports claim that documents stolen in these hacks have been released publicly at the instigation of the Russian Government, and there is widespread speculation that the release may be an effort to influence the outcome of the US presidential election.
- The facts remain to be conclusively determined, but the investigation of these events should have the highest priority. If true, this is an attack not on one party but on the integrity of American democracy. And it may not be the end of such attacks. It is not unthinkable that those responsible will steal and release more files, and even salt the files they release with plausible forgeries.
- This is unacceptable. Our president should be chosen by American citizens, not by foreign adversaries or interests.
- This is not a partisan issue. All parties should agree that foreign efforts to influence our elections through hacking and stealing confidential records must be deterred and thwarted through a strong and unified response.
- Future action is required:
- The president should ensure that the attacks are attributed and take prompt actions sufficient to hold those responsible accountable and deter foreign actors from pursuing such tactics in the future.
- Election officials at every level of government should take this lesson to heart: our electoral process could be a target for reckless foreign governments and terrorist groups. The voting process is critical to our democracy and must be proof against such attacks or the threat of such attacks. Voting processes and results must receive security akin to that we expect for critical infrastructure.
- Political parties and the federal government bear special responsibility for helping to prevent such intrusions in the future. What they have done in the past is clearly insufficient and threatens public confidence in the political process. Just as the federal government offers, and candidates routinely accept, Secret Service protection for their candidates, so too should campaigns and candidates be offered and accept assistance in securing their communications.
Signees of the statement by the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group
Charles Allen
Former Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis
Department of Homeland Security
Stewart Baker
Former Assistant Secretary for Policy
Department of Homeland Security
Richard Ben-Veniste
Former Commissioner
National Commission on the Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
Peter Bergen
Director
National Security Studies Program
New America Foundation
William Bratton
Commissioner
New York City Police Department
Michael Chertoff
Former Secretary of Homeland Security
Raj De
Former General Counsel
National Security Agency
Clark Ervin
Former Inspector General
Department of Homeland Security
Jane Harman
President, Director and CEO
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Michael Hayden
Former Director
National Security Agency; Central Intelligence Agency
David Heyman
Former Assistant Secretary for Policy
Department of Homeland Security
Brian Michael Jenkins
Former Adviser
National Commission on Terrorism
Juliette Kayyem
Former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs
Department of Homeland Security
John F. Kelly
Former Commander
US Southern Command
Michael Leiter
Former Director
National Counterterrorism Center
James Loy
Former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security
Christian Marrone
Former Chief of Staff
Department of Homeland Security
Paul McHale
Former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense
Department of Defense
John McLaughlin
Former Deputy and Acting Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Jeanne Meserve
Former Homeland Security Correspondent
CNN News
Michael Morell
Former Deputy Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Matt Olsen
Former Director
National Counterterrorism Center
Eric Olson
Former Commander
US Special Operations Command
John Pistole
Former Administrator
Transportation Security Administration
Jessica Stern
Fellow
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
Guy Swan
Former Commanding General
US Army North/Fifth Army
Frances Townsend
Former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
Starnes Walker
Former CTO & Technical Director
US Fleet Cyber Command
Former Director of Research
Department of Homeland Security
William Webster
Former Director
Central Intelligence Agency; Federal Bureau of Investigation
Evan Wolff
Partner
Crowell & Moring LLP
Juan Zarate
Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism
