Thread by @ChrisMegerian

The Senate Intelligence Committee just released its first report on election security.

The Senate Intelligence report on Russian meddling is going to be five volumes. You can read the first one now. intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/…

We're dealing with some big redactions right off the bat in this report.

Previous reporting has generally said that 21 state election systems were targeted by the Russians. This report says there are indications that all 50 were probed.

There is still no indication that Russian operations had an effect on vote tallying.

Another way to effect the results of an election is to tinker with voter registration databases. It doesn't look like that happened though.

Why did Russians breach election databases but not alter them? Likely because that still achieved their goal of "undermining the integrity of elections and American confidence in democracy."

John Brennan, the former CIA director, captures the conundrum about how transparent to be about Russian activity

"I know America's voting machines are vulnerable because my colleagues and I have hacked them repeatedly," said a University of Michigan computer science professor

"For most states, the story of Russian attempts to hack slate infrastructure was one of confusion and a lack of information."

"DHS set about trying to build
relationships with the states, but it faced a significant trust deficit."

"States reported that DHS seemed to have little to no familiarity with elections."

After the 2016 election, DHS improved, according to state officials.

So what should the country do about election security?

Paper ballots, post-election audits, better coordination between states and federal government.

And then there's this gem.

Build a Credible REDACTED

The report includes minority views from Sen. Wyden, who disagrees with conclusion that states should be left to lead the charge on election security. "We would not ask a local sheriff to go to war against the missiles, planes and tanks of the Russian Army."

That's a wrap on the report for now. Stay tuned for more coverage.