"We recognize that this elections for many voters will look & feel very different than it has in the past" due to #COVID19, @DHSgov Sr Advisor for Election Security Matt Masterson tells @AuburnCyber's McCrary Institute
"Today is National Voter Registration Day" per Masterson "What a perfect day for all voters to go out & register or update their registration to ensure their information is accurate & up-to-date"
"Election night results may be less complete than what you're used to seeing" per @DHSgov's Masterson "None of that means there's a problem w/the process. It means election officials are focused on accuracy, not speed, & they're doing everything they can..."
NEW: "We know because of the visibility of & the work & reporting we're getting from state & local officials that election systems, like IT systems generally, are being scanned, are being targeted, are being researched for vulnerabilities" per @DHSgov's Masterson
"While we have no evidence of direct targeting of election infrastructure by nation states, we know & continue to see reports of scanning" per @DHSgov's Masterson
"We also know & see state & local governments in general being impacted by things like ransomware & vulnerabilities being exploited in order to impact state & local governments generally, & having an impact on election offices" per Masterson
"We see cascading impacts where internet is lost, connectivity to websites is lost" per @DHSgov's Masterson "Having resilience measures in place...is really critical"
"Patch. Patch. Patch" - @DHSgov Senior Advisor for Election Security, Matt Masterson advice to state/local officials on safeguarding/keeping their systems up to date
With now less than 45 days until #Election2020, @DHSgov@CISAgov in an "enhanced readiness posture" per Masterson "...doing regular unclassified election threat briefings" for election officials
.@DHSgov Sr Advisor for Election Security Matt Masterson urges voters NOT to spread bad info/#disinformation
"Before you share election information, is it coming from one of those trusted sources" per @DHSgov' Masterson "This is going to be our best resilience measures to any attempt to undermine confidence which we know our adversaries are seeking to do"
"We continue to see spear-phishing & social engineering as the most likely avenues to target state & local officials" per @DHSgov's Masterson
"What keeps me up at night is, is there something we're not seeing? Is there something we're not tracking or pushing that we should be so we can get it to the state & local partners, the private sector to help them...in the lead-up to the election & afterwards" per Masterson
In 2018, #Pennsylvania required all 67 counties to upgrade their voting systems "meeting the highest standards of both security and accessibility" - all w/a paper trail, @PAStateDept Sec @KathyBoockvar tells @AuburnCyber
"There is no doubt that we are in a tremendously better situation now, today, than we were (in #Election2016)"
Florida's @EscambiaVotes Supervisor of Elections David Stafford tells @AuburnCyber "Unfortunately, the threat has grown along with us"
"We know who to call if something happens now" adds @EscambiaVotes' Stafford
"I do worry about, in those last couple of days & on election day..." per @PAStateDep Sec @KathyBoockvar, calling continued communication between the federal, state and local levels is/will be critical for #Election2020
"The social media problem is a huge, huge problem & I don't have any answers" per @KathyBoockvar "It's the #disinformation & the misinformation...I keep telling people don't click retweet...It's so easy to perpetuate"
"We meet regularly w/all the social media platforms" per @DHSgov Sr Advisor Masterson "Our experience is, the amount of information they're sharing, the amount of work being done, federal government to platforms has increased a lot"
HAPPENING NOW - US intelligence chiefs testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee:
@ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines
@CIA Dir William Burns
@FBI Dir Christoper Wray
@NSAGov Dir Gen Timothy Haugh
@DefenseIntel Dir LtGen Jeffrey Krause
@StateDept Asst Sec for Intel Brett Holmgren
Noting that the current era is as challenging as ever, with a wide variety of threats, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair @MarkWarner calls for "redefining what we think of" when it comes to national security
@MarkWarner "We are no even seeing the possibility of foreign adversaries weaponizing space" in ways that could be detrimental to US way of life, per @MarkWarner
NEW: @FBI joins White House, Senate intelligence committee chair in sounding alarm about foreign interference in #Election2024
"This election cycle, the US will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace & enabled by new technology
per Dir Christopher Wray at @INSAlliance
#ArtificialIntelligence advances "lowering the barrier to entry-making it easier for both more & less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence" per @FBI's Wray
"Making foreign influence efforts by players old and&new more realistic & difficult to detect"
@FBI Where are US adversaries focused?
“The attack surface for the bad guys is the private sector” per @FBI's Wray "The intelligence that we need is in the hands of the private sector, often”
NEW: US worried about #Russia seeking to interfere in #Election2024
"Of course there are concerns" White House Nat'l Security Adviser @JakeSullivan46 tells @MeetThePress
"There's plenty of reason to be concerned" per @JakeSullivan46
"There is a history here in presidential elections by the #Russia|n Federation, by its intelligence services" he says
"We are going to be vigilant"
Concerns about #Russia|n interference in #Election2024 "not about politics" per @JakeSullivan46
"This is about national security. It is about a foreign country, a foreign adversary seeking to manipulate the politics & democracy of the United States of America."
NEW: US confirms #Houthis using "various #Iran|ian-origin missiles & unmanned aerial vehicles" in their attacks on shipping in the #RedSea #GulfofAden
Conclusion based on new analysis by @DefenseIntel
The assessment is based on information current as January 2024 - including a "comparative analysis of publicly available images of #Iran|ian missiles & UAVs to those displayed & employed by #Houthi forces in #Yemen to attack commercial shipping" per @DefenseIntel
US @DefenseIntel on #Iran|ian drones in #Houthi arsenal:
-Sayad (Sammad) - range of 1800km
-Shahed-136 - range of 2500km
-Waid-1 (version of the Shahed-131) - range of 900km
AQ "established up to 8 new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in #Ghazni, #Laghman, #Parwan & #Uruzgan Provinces w/a new base to stockpile weaponry in the #Panjshir Valley" per new @UN report
The new #alQaida camps appear to be "conducting suicide bomber training for TTP [Tehrik-i-Taliban #Pakistan]" per the @UN report
Intelligence provided by @UN member states also notes #alQaida is operating madrasas in #Laghman, #Kunar, #Nangarhar, #Nuristan & #Parwan provinces
AQ also "maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between #Afghanistan & the Islamic Republic of #Iran"
NEW: @usairforce disciplines 15 Air National Guard members as a result of the so-called Discord intel leak this past April
Inspector General report cited lax inspections, lack of guidance & lack of supervision as contributing factors in the leaks by 21-year-old Jack Teixeira
"The IG investigation found individuals in Teixeira’s unit failed to take proper action after becoming aware of his intelligence-seeking activities..." per @usairforce statement
"...However, the investigation did not find evidence that members of Teixeira’s supervisory chain were aware of his alleged unauthorized disclosures" per @usairforce