• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Independent Voter News
  • Campaign Finance
  • Civic Ed
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Events
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. election security>

U.S. elections require a permanent structure for fighting foreign interference

David Levine
July 04, 2022
election security
stuartmiles99/Getty Images

Levine is an elections integrity fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which develops strategies to deter and defend against autocratic efforts to interfere in democratic institutions.

The National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command recently reestablished their election security team to help secure the 2022 midterm elections. In light of Independent Sen. Angus King’s push for Cybercom to produce unclassified reports connected with each biennial election, which comes on the heels of increased alarm about foreign election interference and diminishing faith in the integrity of U.S. elections, this is the last time the team should be reassembled. U.S. democracy would be more secure with a permanent, not periodic, presence in preventing and mitigating foreign interference attacks.


First, foreign interference is a strategy, not a tactic – and that means attacks are executed over a continuous time period, and are not episodic in nature. So must be our defenses. While discussion of nation-state influence operations may often focus on efforts to interfere with major U.S. elections, adversaries, such as Russia, have repeatedly demonstrated that they seek to undermine democracies and their institutions on an ongoing basis through any number of means, including disinformation, emerging technologies, malign finance and cyber-attacks.

If the NSA/Cybercom election security team is tracking malign actors’ activities on an ongoing basis, there would be no need for the team to stand up and down. It could also improve the team’s sharing of actionable intelligence regarding threats to U.S. elections. In 2020, when Iranian actors targeted election infrastructure and American voters in an attempt to undermine the election, intelligence was quickly analyzed, downgraded, and shared with American officials and the American public. A permanent NSA/Cyber Command election security team could help ensure that such a process is the rule, not the exception.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Second, the U.S. domestic information space following the 2020 presidential election is now consistently filled with content that malign actors can amplify to achieve their aims. Whether it’s taking advantage of the exposure of sensitive information about election equipment or voter data, or leveraging the unprecedented exodus of election officials to further undermine confidence in the elections process, there is plenty in the current state of affairs for our enemies to exploit. As Army Maj. Gen. William Hartman, who leads the national cyber mission responsible for defending against foreign threats, recently noted, “I expect that there will be a fair amount of domestically generated information that the Russians will freely amplify.”

Third, elections take place across America all the time when you factor in state and local elections, and our adversaries know that. While some of these smaller elections may not draw much voter interest, that does not mean malicious actors seeking to interfere in the voting process or influence voter perceptions are staying on the sidelines as well. For example, following Ohio’s 2019 elections, Secretary of State Frank LaRose reported that his state detected and thwarted an election-related cyber attack on his office’s website, an attack that allegedly originated in Panama but was traced to a Russian-owned company. And earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice charged five defendants with crimes related to efforts by the secret police of the People’s Republic of China to stalk, harass and spy on Chinese nationals residing in the United States. One of the defendants allegedly hired a private investigator in New York to disrupt the campaign of a Brooklyn resident running for Congress, including by physically attacking the victim.

While state and local election officials are largely getting better at safeguarding their elections, having the full capabilities of the federal government to assist with this task is critical. As the Department of Homeland Security noted in its October 2020 Homeland Threat Assessment, “Adversaries' cyber capabilities vary greatly – as does the cyber defensive posture of electoral boards to stymie such actors.” Having the NSA/Cyber Command election security team in place on a permanent basis could help local election jurisdictions level up and ensure the integrity of all American elections, no matter how big or small the vote.

Finally, having a permanent election security team under leadership that can only be fired for cause, which serves lengthy terms that do not coincide with presidential terms, could help insulate the team’s work from undue political pressure. In April, the Department of Homeland Security proposed forming a Disinformation Governance Board to, among other things, counter Russian cyber and election information. While such a Board could help bolster the federal government’s battle against disinformation, a poor rollout and partisan blowback are raising significant questions about its future. Around the same time, a DHS inspector general report found that a top administration official in former President Donald Trump’s administration delayed and altered an intelligence product about Russian interference in the 2020 election, leading to the perception that it was changed to help Trump’s re-election bid.

The NSA/Cyber Command election security team has a track record of solid, nonpartisan work. Allowing it to continuously monitor foreign threats to elections not only increases the likelihood that the intelligence it shares with the election community is helpful; it would also make it harder for political actors to undermine the team for its own ends.

The recent developments at DHS raise legitimate questions over whether America will treat future threats of foreign interference as a partisan issue or one of national security. Making the NSA/ Cyber Command election security team a permanent entity and further insulating it from short-term political pressures moving forward increases the likelihood of the latter.

From Your Site Articles
  • Election security experts warn against online voting systems - The ... ›
  • Keeping foreign money and dirt-digging out of our elections - The ... ›
  • Biden proposes spending billions on election security - The Fulcrum ›
  • Some voting rules go too far in fighting election threats - The Fulcrum ›
  • How Congress can help keep threats to our elections at bay - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • How to make the next election even more secure | MIT Technology ... ›
  • Election Security | Homeland Security ›
  • How to Secure Elections for 2020 and Beyond | Brennan Center for ... ›
  • Election Security: How to Secure Elections | National Review ›
election security

Join an Upcoming Event

Democracy Happy Hour

Fix Democracy First
Nov 29, 2023 at 5:00 pm PST
Read More

The Future of Citizenship – 2023 Conference

National Conference on Citizenship
Nov 30, 2023 at 8:00 am CST
Read More

Future of Citizenship, Annual Conference on Citizenship

National Civic League
Nov 30, 2023 at 9:00 am EST
Read More

Designing the Perfect Society (COH) – 1on1 discussion

Citizen Assembly
Dec 01, 2023 at 7:00 pm CDT
Read More

STAR Voting California Monthly Meeting

Equal Vote
Dec 04, 2023 at 6:00 pm PDT
Read More

Democracy Happy Hour

Fix Democracy First
Dec 06, 2023 at 5:00 pm PDT
Read More
View All Events

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow

Support Democracy Journalism; Join The Fulcrum

The Fulcrum daily platform is where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives. Now more than ever our democracy needs a trustworthy outlet

Contribute
Contributors

Our shared humanity and collective responsibility

Jenn Hoos Rothberg

The conservative mind at 70

Michael Lucchese

Fulcrum Rewind: How to get along at Thanksgiving

Debilyn Molineaux
David L. Nevins

How reforming felony murder laws can reduce juvenile justice harms

Margaret Mikulski

What if neither party can govern?

John Opdycke

The case for the 4th, from a part-time American

Flora Roy
latest News

Don’t soundproof your heart

Tim Shriver
12h

A new case for electoral reform

Reinhold Ernst
12h

Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Lennon Wesley III
29 November

Ranked choice voting won election day 2023

Ashley Houghton
Deb Otis
29 November

Could George Santos torch the House by vacating the Speaker

Kevin R. Kosar
29 November

Slovakia’s election deep fakes show how AI could be a danger to U.S. elections

David Levine
Louis Savoia
28 November
Videos
Who is the new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson?

Who is the new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson?

Our Staff
Video: Jordan bully tactics backfire, provoke threats and harassment of fellow Republicans

Video: Jordan bully tactics backfire, provoke threats and harassment of fellow Republicans

Our Staff
Video Rewind: Reflection on Indigenous Peoples' Day with Rev. F. Willis Johnson

Video Rewind: Reflection on Indigenous Peoples' Day with Rev. F. Willis Johnson

Our Staff
Video: The power of young voices

Video: The power of young voices

Our Staff
Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Our Staff
Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Lennon Wesley III
29 November

Podcast: Dr. F. Willis Johnson in a rich conversation with Patrick McNeal

Our Staff
14 November

Podcast: Better choices, better elections

Our Staff
23 October

Podcast: Are state legislators really accountable to their voters?

Our Staff
06 October
Recommended
Don’t soundproof your heart

Don’t soundproof your heart

Big Picture
Our shared humanity and collective responsibility

Our shared humanity and collective responsibility

Big Picture
A new case for electoral reform

A new case for electoral reform

Big Picture
Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Podcasts
Ranked choice voting won election day 2023

Ranked choice voting won election day 2023

Big Picture
Could George Santos torch the House by vacating the Speaker

Could George Santos torch the House by vacating the Speaker

Big Picture