Feds questioned about efforts to block vote meddling
Heinrich, other senators say officials don’t seem to be doing enough
WASHINGTON — Sen. Martin Heinrich and a bipartisan panel of members of the Senate intelligence committee told current and former heads of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday that they worry the federal government isn’t doing enough to protect elections from foreign interference.
Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Jeh Johnson, who served in the position under former President Barack Obama, that it seems the Trump administration isn’t taking election security seriously enough. Senators on the committee criticized both administrations for not moving quickly to combat Russian election interference.
“No one is saying the buck stops here. … Someone has to take the responsibility to make this happen,” Heinrich said during questioning of Nielsen, before asking how many Cabinet-level meetings the Trump administration has conducted to address election security.
“We have had a number of them, and we actually have a number of them coming up, but I take your point,” Nielsen said. “I am a very strong advocate for making clear who has the lead.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., criticized the Obama administration’s response, as well, saying it was not sufficient to warn the public “in any way, shape or form.”
There’s no evidence that any hack in the November 2016 election affected election results, but the attempts rattled state election officials and prompted the federal government and states to examine the way votes are counted. To speed up communications and intelligence sharing, Homeland Security has been working to grant security clearances to up to three election officials in each state. Nielsen said Wednesday that just 20 of those officials have been granted full clearances.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has received an interim security clearance from DHS. Deputy Secretary of State John Blair and State Elections Director Kari Fresquez are applying for their security clearances.
Toulouse Oliver, who sparred with Trump administration officials over the administration’s attempt to obtain state voter rolls last year, told the Journal on Wednesday she’s “encouraged” that the federal government is taking the issue of foreign election meddling seriously.
“So far, I’ve been encouraged by my interactions with Homeland Security and other federal agencies, and I’m hopeful that this constructive communication will continue,” she said. “We need as much collaboration between state election officials and the federal government as possible in order to prevent future attacks on our elections.”