National: Ryan schedules US election security briefing for lawmakers

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has arranged for top U.S. intelligence officials to brief members of Congress later this week on the Trump administration’s efforts to guard voting systems across the country from hackers. The briefing comes amid increased fears about threats to the 2018 midterm elections following Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, which U.S. officials have said involved hackers targeting state voting infrastructure. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray are set to brief lawmakers on Thursday evening, according to an aide to Ryan. The briefing will be unclassified and members-only, meaning it will be closed to the public. The briefing is expected to cover current threats to the U.S. election process and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ongoing efforts to provide voluntary aid to states to secure their systems. Officials will also discuss what state election officials are doing to secure their respective systems.

“House Republicans have treated election security as a third rung issue for over a year, it is time for them to finally take this national security issue seriously,” Thompson said in a statement. “The next federal election is less than six months away.”

Officials say that Russia targeted digital systems involved in the election process in 21 states as part of a broader effort to interfere with the 2016 vote. They maintain that, in most cases, hackers merely probed for vulnerabilities and did not successfully breach systems; in a small number of states, like Illinois, actors were able to break in.

Full Article: Ryan schedules US election security briefing for lawmakers | TheHill.

National: Ryan schedules US election security briefing for lawmakers | The Hill

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