Mounting concerns about the safety of US election workers ahead of #Election2022
@TheJusticeDept Asst AG Kenneth Polite, Jr. met Tuesday w/300 officials, workers to discuss "available grant funding for physical security enhancements"
More: the election officials, workers also "received an update on the work of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, including a briefing from the @FBI on communication & coordination... in the lead up to the November election" per @TheJusticeDept
On Monday, senior @FBI officials said since June 2021 there have been more than 1,000 reported threats to election workers -58% from just 7 US states
Happening now: New US $625 million pkg for #Kyiv is "tailored to meet #Ukraine's immediate needs" per @DeptofDefense Deputy Assistant Secretary Laura Cooper
NEW: W/less than 2 months til #Election2022, US "not aware of any adversary #cyber campaigns specifically targeting US elections" per sr @FBI official
BUT adversaries "could seek to spread or amplify false or exaggerated claims of compromise to election infrastructure"
NEW: @FBI warns #Russia#China#Iran "will take advantage of election integrity narratives that come up in the US election ecosystem" per 2nd senior official
"We've seen that already specifically form Russia"
NEW: Ahead of #Election2022#Russia|n gvt "expanding the ecosystem that they are using to try to identify & recruit both witting & unwitting proxy organizations" per 2nd senior @FBI official
"I think we can infer that they [Russia] think this has been relatively successful..."
"This land grab is illegal & illegitimate" he says "These lands are Ukraine...just like #Crimea is Ukraine"
#Russia's annexation "does not change the nature of the conflict ... it does not change our commitment to support Ukraine" per @NATO's @jensstoltenberg
But he adds, "NATO is not party to conflict"
"This is a pivotal moment...the most serious escalation since the start of the war" per @NATO's @jensstoltenberg on #Russia's latest annexation of #Ukraine territory
"None of this shows strength" he adds "It shows weakness"
#China's growing nuclear arsenal - "We going to be plunged into a tri-polar world" @usairforce Sec Frank Kendall tells #CAPEvents
"...there's a lot of risk in that"
#Russia's struggle to overcome #Ukraine's air defense: "A well trained opponent would be able to overwhelm what they [the Ukrainians] did...the Russians were obviously not well-trained" per @usairforce's Kendall
"We expected them [Russia] to be better than they are" he adds
Per @TheJusticeDept, indictment vs oligarch Oleg Deripaska, Natalia Bardakova, Olga Shriki & Ekaterina Lobanova was unsealed today
Shriki -a naturalized US citizen- was arrested this AM
Per @TheJusticeDept, Shriki deleted electronic records after getting a grand jury subpoena
Lobanova, 33, is charged w/making false statements to @DHSgov agents when she tried to enter the US "for the purpose of giving birth to Deripaska’s child"
"The Justice Department will not stop working to identify, find, and bring to justice those who evade US sanctions in order to enable the #Russia|n regime" per US Atty Gen Merrick Garland, in statement
Survey of key Western countries finds US "still perceived as the most influential actor in the world" BUT 'respondents predict its influence will decline sharply over the next 5 years"