Thread by @ericgeller

Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt speaking now at @EACgov election readiness summit.

@EACgov Blunt says "we are not going to get anything in law between now and Election Day" re: Secure Elections Act, but adds, "everything that Senator Klobuchar and I would like to see happen by statute is basically happening" and it's about codifying it for the future.

Now Rules ranking member Amy Klobuchar is speaking.

Klobuchar thanks Vermont SOS Jim Condos, president of NASS, who is sitting in the first row.

“We’ve had some interesting discussions recently about the [SEA]. And he’s standing up for all the secretaries of state across the country. We really hope we can work this out.”

Klobuchar: “I have an adverse reaction when people call it ‘meddling’ in our election. That is what I do when I call my daughter on a Saturday night and ask her what she’s doing. … To me, this is much more of an organized cyberattack.”

Klobuchar chatting with Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, Vermont SOS and NASS President Jim Condos, and EAC Chairman Thomas Hicks.

At EAC summit, Klobuchar stressed need for federal guidance in election security: subscriber.politicopro.com/cybersecurity/…

"Part of this is stepping back a little and thinking, 'How did we always do things? Well, we always did things this way. We're going to have to do things differently.'"

Klobuchar on message of Secure Elections Act: "We want to give you more money, states, to help you. But we want to also make sure that we [spread] those best practices that we know are working, [including] backup paper ballots that we know will protect us if there’s a hack."

.@nppd_krebs at EAC summit: "I gotta admit, in the early days of this administration, there was communication going on between DHS and the states. I wouldn’t say it was good communication."

Back then, he says, states complained frequently about the partnership.

Now, Krebs says, "it’s a completely different ballgame," because DHS has built up trust with states that lets the department go to them and make requests and suggestions with credibility.

.@VermontSOS (speaking for himself, not as president of @NASSorg): “What we really do need is ongoing, sustainable funding — the resources to do the job that we have to do in this new world that we’re in.”

Going back a bit to Klobuchar's remarks:

She said she wants Congress to pass the Secure Elections Act during the lame duck and urged states to support it now b/c in January 2019 a more Democratic Congress might propose a stricter bill. subscriber.politicopro.com/cybersecurity/…

Klobuchar to a room full of election officials: "For people that want to delay it or stall it beyond" the lame duck, "well, that's up to you, because then we'll have a new Congress."

She emphasized to election officials that she and Sen. James Lankford weren't giving up on the SEA, which stalled due to their objections.

"We have a new version coming out," she said, "and we just ask you to work with us."

With Rules Chairman Roy Blunt sitting just a few feet away, Klobuchar said that the bill could move quickly if Blunt scheduled a markup to move it to the full Senate.

"I think [it] would be good if we could possibly get it done by the end of the year."

Back to the ongoing panel.

Krebs: "We have to get over this assumption that the federal government knows all and sees all and has intelligence collection holdings that are able to paint the full picture before a bad thing happens. That’s just not how it works."

Krebs encourages state and local officials to share as much information as possible with the federal government so DHS/ODNI/etc. can build a fuller threat picture.

"We really encourage folks, if you see something, say something."

NEW: DHS isn't interested in regulating voting technology vendors, @nppd_krebs told reporters today.

"We think that we’re making a significant amount of progress in the voluntary partnership space."

subscriber.politicopro.com/cybersecurity/…

Big blow to activists pushing for industry oversight.

I asked Krebs if DHS wanted to apply more pressure to vendors.

“We think, given the pace of technology development, given innovation, that we can continue with the appropriate support, awareness [and] partnerships and we will be able to get the security outcomes we want."

Krebs also urged patience in building ties between researchers and vendors.

"We have to have a little bit of awareness that it doesn’t happen overnight," he said.

He also said that DHS was "seeing progress in this area."

And for those hoping DHS will do as this letter requests and tell states to remove the wireless modems from their voting systems...don't get your hopes up.

Krebs said DHS would stick to promoting paper ballots and audits, which provide failsafes if a modem is "compromised."

https://twitter.com/ericgeller/status/1047244840679833600