End secrecy over election hacking in Florida
When it comes to meddling in elections, we expect Vladimir Putin to keep secrets from the American public.
We don’t expect the U.S. government to behave like the Kremlin.
That’s the exasperating saga that’s been playing out in Florida. If it doesn’t change, voters will have even more reason to believe that, when it comes to elections, the state is “more confused than an old person with an iPhone.”
That’s a line comedian Craig Ferguson used after problems in the 2012 election. This latest tale concerns Russia hacking into voter registration systems in 2016.
It occurred in two or four counties, maybe more. The exact number is unknown because the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have put a needless gag order on public officials.
Democrat or Republican, they don’t like it. They’ve even filed a bill that would remove restrictions on releasing information.
No matter, the federal position is entrenched. Our elected officials can’t even say which counties were compromised.
“It is unacceptable that the Russians know which systems were hacked and not the Americans affected,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy said.
The entire caper might have remained a secret if not for a passing line in the 448-page Mueller Report, which was released in March. It said the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, had accessed the computer system of “at least one” Florida county.
Putin’s cyberunit did it though a “spearphishing” attack. Election workers had unwittingly clicked on a link in an email that downloaded malicious software.
All that was news to Florida officials, who’d long insisted the 2016 election was infiltration-free. Congress members and Gov. Ron DeSantis demanded to be briefed.
The FBI told them that two counties had been hacked. That information was classified, however, so nobody could publicly identify those counties.
Then in July, a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report said Russia hacked into four counties.
Why weren’t state officials initially told that?
Nobody’s saying.
Could there be more than four counties? Nobody’s saying.
The FBI says no vote tabulation systems were hacked and no vote tallies were changed. That’s a relief, though by now who could blame Floridians for questioning everything they’re told about election sanctity?
That gets to the crux of the problem. If the 2016 incursions were simply a matter of workers inadvertently clicking on a bad email, we can presume that issue has been addressed with proper security training.
The FBI reportedly also told lawmakers that county computer systems now have sensors that detect cyberintrusions. Problem solved (maybe).
Now it’s time to fix the perception that every vote might not count.
Cyberattacks are just one front in this latter-day Cold War. Russia creates chaos via fake Facebook pages, Twitter bots, public disinformation campaigns and whatever else it can concoct.
The ultimate goal is to sew discord and doubt and make Americans think its elections are illegitimate.
The FBI says secrecy is vital to protect national security. We’re all for protecting sources and methods and even erring on the side of safety, but the risks seem overblown in this case.
Russia obviously knows which counties were hacked. It did the hacking. Where’s the harm in letting the American people know?
Instead of four counties, voters in all 67 Florida counties could go to the polls next year wondering if everything was legit in
their county the last time around — and will it be any better this time?
The FBI typically does not disclose the names of hacking victims for privacy reasons. Instead of individual voters, it has classified the counties as victims of the 2016 incursion. That’s like credit card customers having their data hacked and the FBI saying Visa was the victim.
“The American voters are the true victims of this intrusion,” Murphy said.
The Winter Park Democrat introduced a bill with Republican Rep. Michael Waltz in May that would require state and local officials to be notified when election databases have been hacked.
No action has been taken, but it shouldn’t take an act of Congress to let citizens know what citizens are entitled to know.
Especially citizens in Florida. Between the hanging chads of 2000, the bungling delays of 2012 and the 2018 tragicomedy in Broward County, Floridians have earned the right to be a little paranoid about the electoral process.
Now they can add 2016 to that equation. It would help if federal law enforcement realized you don’t beat the Kremlin by imitating the Kremlin. Whatever damage Russia caused, shrouding it in needless secrecy is only making it worse.