Amid widespread concerns of outside interference influencing the results this year’s presidential election, the head of the country’s cybersecurity agency says election infrastructure is more secure than ever.
State and local election officials across the country have made big improvements to strengthen both physical and cyber security at polling and voting locations to preserve election integrity, said Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in an interview with Weekend Edition.
After Russia’s attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in 2016, CISA was created to work with state and local officials to make sure voting machines aren’t vulnerable to hacks.
“I can say with confidence based on all the work that we’ve done together since 2016, that election infrastructure has never been more secure,” Easterly said. “There are cyber threats, there are physical threats to election officials, but we’re at a point now with our election infrastructure secure and the election community prepared to meet the moment on the 5th of November.”
Her confidence in election integrity comes as intelligence officials warn that foreign adversaries — mainly Russia, Iran and China — are stepping up efforts to undermine voter trust in the democratic process, sway voters and inflame partisan divisions.
Most Americans are concerned about voter fraud in this year’s general election, fueled by election misinformation and distrust in free and fair elections, according to a recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Republicans, who account for most of the concerned voters, are leading the trend, inspired by former President Donald Trump’s continued false claims that vote rigging is rampant and the reason he lost the 2020 election.
Widespread voter fraud is rare, and a slew of audits and investigations have confirmed the results of the election four years ago. Even so, election officials across the country have been busy debunking voter fraud conspiracy theories.
Some election administrators have been subject to death threats in the face of public erosion of trust in their work.
Pushing false election fraud theories is “essentially doing our adversaries’ job for them,” Easterly said. “And it’s doing a massive disservice to the hundreds of thousands of election officials across the nation because it’s leading to threats of violence and creating real mistrust and stoking partisan discord. That’s exactly what our foreign adversaries want.”
The director said the federal agency has worked with local officials to install safety measures at election sites such as panic buttons and bulletproof glass.
Easterly said it’s important for Americans to be patient while awaiting the official outcome of the Nov. 5 election.
“We know that this election is probably going to be very close and elections don’t end when the polls close,” she said. “It actually may take days to weeks to actually fully count and audit and certify the vote.”
“In that zone of uncertainty,” she added, “that’s where our foreign adversaries are going to do their best to influence Americans to undermine our belief in the legitimacy of the process.”
Martin Patience and Shannon Rhoades produced and edited this interview for broadcast.
Transcript:
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
How secure are U.S. elections from interference, foreign and domestic? A new government agency was created after Russia’s attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election of 2016, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Among many other things, they work with state and local officials to try to ensure that voting machines are not susceptible to hacks. The director of CISA, as it’s called, Jen Easterly, joins us now. Thank you so much for being with us, director.
JEN EASTERLY: Great to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: How serious do you see threats from foreign governments? And I’ll rattle off names – Russia, China, Iran.
EASTERLY: There are very serious threats from our foreign adversaries, and you named them. I do want to say, though, as you said at the outset – so our job is the federal government lead for election infrastructure security. And in that role, I have been traveling the country over the last three-plus years, meeting with state and local election officials who are on the front lines of defending our democracy, running our elections. And I can say with confidence based on all the work that we’ve done together since 2016, that election infrastructure has never been more secure. So, yes, there are very real threats from our foreign adversaries. There are cyber threats. There are physical threats to election officials. But we’re at a point now with our election infrastructure secure and the election community prepared to meet the moment on the 5 of November.
SIMON: Do you see domestic threats as well?
EASTERLY: We see a whole range of threats. Cyber threats can come from our foreign adversaries. They can come from cybercriminals who might be domestic. Certainly election officials have talked about their fears of threats to themselves and to polling locations and election facilities. As you know, many election officials have been dealing with very real threats to themselves and their families, largely stemming from unfounded claims that the 2020 election did not represent the will of the American people. So there’s real concern out there. It’s one of the reasons that CISA has been working with state and local election officials across the country to help them shore up their physical security, whether that’s through providing personal considerations for physical security, whether that’s doing physical security assessments of polling locations and election locations…
SIMON: This is – what’s the term of art? This is hardening locations, it sounds like, to withstand an attack from the outside.
EASTERLY: Well, it’s election offices, many of which may be sites where depending on how close the election is, there could be crowds that gather around, and that’s why we have worked with election officials to ensure they can harden. Some of them have bulletproof glass. Many of them have panic buttons. But, quite frankly, you know, I often get asked, well, are people not signing up to be election officials? And the opposite is true. Despite this environment, you have election officials serving on the front lines, defending our democracy, not for pay, not for glory, not for fame, because they believe it is the right thing to do to protect and preserve the most important democratic process – free, fair, safe, secure elections.
SIMON: Is there a danger in misinformation?
EASTERLY: I think there’s a huge danger. It’s one of the things that we hear from state and local election officials that they’re very concerned about. We know that our foreign adversaries – Russia, Iran, China – are intent on malign influence operations with two key goals. The first – undermine American confidence in our democratic institutions, and in the legitimacy of our election processes. Two – to sow partisan discord.
SIMON: Director, what do you say to the concerns of people and the House Judiciary chair, Jim Jordan, has subpoenaed you to testify about this, that your efforts to curb misinformation sometimes amount to curbing freedom of speech?
EASTERLY: Yeah, to be very clear, look, at the end of the day, I served most of my career in uniform. And my whole life, I’ve raised my hand to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against enemies foreign and domestic. What makes America the greatest nation on the face of the Earth is our freedoms, our civil liberties. And every day the men and women of my agency come to work to support and defend the American people in a way that protects freedoms, protect civil liberties. We do not censor. We have never censored. And frankly, the allegations of censorship are riddled with factual inaccuracies.
SIMON: JD Vance, for example, contends that news about Hunter Biden’s laptop was kept off of public platforms.
EASTERLY: Yeah. So CISA had nothing to do with Hunter Biden’s laptop. I’m – that’s a 5-year-old story that happened in the Trump administration. What we’re focused on is ensuring that state and local election officials across the nation have the resources, the information, the capabilities that they need to be able to reduce risk to elections. You know, obviously, everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I do think it is frankly unfortunate and incredibly irresponsible for anybody in a position of power or authority or influence, regardless of party or politics, to be spreading inaccurate information that specifically undermines American trust and confidence in our elections and in our democratic institutions. That’s essentially doing our adversary’s job for them. And it’s doing a massive disservice to the hundreds of thousands of election officials across the nation because it’s leading to threats of violence and creating real mistrust and stoking partisan to score. That’s exactly what our foreign adversaries want.
SIMON: What about the day after Election Day?
EASTERLY: You know, we have to be prepared for everything, but I think we need to, especially focus on the period after the election between the final certification, there are several milestones that occur at the state level, by governors, and then, of course, January 6, by the Congress. But look, we know that this election is probably going to be very close. And elections don’t end when the polls close. What you see being reported is unofficial election results, and it actually may take days to weeks to actually fully count and audit and certify the vote. So Americans need to be patient to finally understand who wins. And in that zone, that zone of uncertainty between November 5 and whenever there is a definitive result, that’s where our foreign adversaries are going to do their best to influence Americans to undermine our belief in the legitimacy of the process.
SIMON: Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Thank you so much for being with us.
EASTERLY: Thanks, Scott.