"This was truly an affront to the American ppl because it demonstrated the potentiality to undermine democracy at large-that's why we take it as seriously as we do"
"I've said it before & I'll say it again. The 2020 election will be the most secure election in modern history" @CISAKrebs tells @BrookingsInst
"We've been truly able to raise the awareness of cybersecurity threats with our partners. They get it"
At least 92% of states will have a paper record of each vote - so election can be audited and verified, per @CISAKrebs
But with #COVID19 and expansion of absentee voting, that percentage could be even higher
"We've truly developed a unified, United States effort in support of partners in state & local government" per @CISAKrebs, including support from US intelligence community
That information is relayed to state/local partners to protect US elections, per @CISAKrebs
"#COVID is changing pretty much how every election across the great country will take place in November" per @CISAKrebs "It's critical that voters understand and the election officials can share the information about what's happening"
NEW: "We're not seeing that level of coordinated, determined #cyber activity from adversaries" like in #Election2016, per @CISAKrebs
"We absolutely have better visibility across the networks & we're just not seeing that same level of activity"
"It's critical to understand that any kind of voting has risks" per @CISAKrebs "To the extent that we can expand rapidly any sort of paper ballot back-up, that is going to lead to post-election audit success"
"We're not fooling ourselves here. There are bad guys that want to do bad things" per @CISAKrebs "#Russia wants to destabilize. #China wants a more compliant state. And #Iran probably wants a little bit of both."
"We've got the defenses up and we're ready for it"
"The American voter has a role to play" per @CISAKrebs, saying voters must be educated & prepared
"Make sure you have a plan...Understand how things may have changed in your state, in your jurisdiction"
"It may not be that we have all the information to determine the winner on Nov 3rd" per @CISAKrebs "it may take a little bit more time"
"We should expect not all of the classic, historical polling locations to be used - there may be schools that are out of service" per @CISAKrebs, suggesting sports arenas and the like could be used more to allow for social distacing
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
NEW: Islamic State-Somalia getting boost from an "influx of foreign fighters"
A just-issued UN sanctions monitoring team report warns the foreign fighters "have expanded and enhanced the group’s capabilities against al-Shabaab"
Influx of foreign fighters to IS-Somalia " has coincided with the re-emergence of the Al-Karrar office as a
key administrative and financial hub for [ISIS] globally" per the UN report
IS-Somalia being led by "a cadre of former al-Shabaab
militants based in the Bari region of Puntland" per UN report
Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud is the emir of IS-Somalia, per report, "responsible for [ISIS] operations in Somalia"
NEW: Senate Democrats ask @DeptofDefense @TheJusticeDept to look at Elon Musk's reported contact w/Russian officials - "determine whether this behavior should force a review of Mr. Musk’s
continued involvement in SpaceX’s varying contracts" w/the US government
"Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security
clearance have the potential to put our security at risk" per @SenatorShaheen @SenJackReed
"We urge you to take appropriate action immediately"
Musk's alleged contacts with Russian officials was first reported by @WSJ, which cited current and former U.S., European and Russian officials
JUST IN: Iranian, 2 men from New York charged in connection with plot to kill Americans, including President-elect Donald Trump & a US journalist of Iranian origin
.@TheJusticeDept filed charges against 51yo Farhad Shakeri of Iran, 49yo Carlisle Rivera & 36yo Jonathon Loadholt
Shakeri remains at large in Iran
Rivera & Loadholt have been detained pending trial
@TheJusticeDept US Atty General Merrick Garland, in statement, calls Shakeri "an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump"
Pentagon assesses since February 2022, Russia's suffered 600,000 casualties
This September, "Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed & wounded in action than in any other month" per a sr US defense official
"#Russia|n losses, again, both killed & wounded in action in just the 1st year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War Two combined" per sr US defense official
#Ukraine "have sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium to large #Russia|n Federation navy vessels in the #BlackSea" per sr US defense official
NEW: US charges American TV presenter for Channel One #Russia & his wife in scheme to evade US sanctions
@TheJusticeDept unsealed the indictment vs 76yo Dimitri Simes & 55yo Anastasia Simes Thursday
They have a home in #Virginia but "remain at large...believed to be in Russia"
Dimitri & Anastasia Simes each charged w/1 count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 1 count of violating the IEEPA & 1 count of conspiracy to commit int'l money laundering
Per @TheJusticeDept, it's a maximum of 20 years per count
Dimitri Simes alleged to have violated sanctions by "serving as a presenter & producer of programming, & by receiving over $1 million, a personal car & driver, a stipend for an apartment in #Moscow... a team of 10 employees from Channel One Russia" per DOJ