AP sources: FBI to keep states in the loop on election breaches

WASHINGTON — The FBI, in a change of policy, is committing to inform state officials if local election systems have been breached, federal officials told The Associated Press.

In the past, the FBI would alert local governments about attacks on their electoral systems without automatically sharing that information with the state. That meant state officials, left in the dark, might be in a position of certifying the accuracy of election results without realizing there had been problems in individual counties. Alerting local governments about breaches, but not the states, was in keeping with FBI policy of protecting the privacy and identities of the actual hacking victim.

The change is intended to bolster federal-state cooperation, which has often been difficult on electoral issues, and is one of several government efforts to rethink how information about cyber threats is shared and with whom. Some local officials in the past have complained about the lack of information from the federal government, though cooperation has improved ahead of the 2020 election with concerns that Russia or another nation could try to tamper with the vote.

The policy change was being shared with state officials on Thursday and was scheduled to be made public later in the day. Senior officials from the FBI and Justice Department described the outlines of it on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal release.

Under the new protocol, the FBI will continue to alert counties victimized by breaches first. A state’s chief election official, in most cases the secretary of state, will be notified either at the same time or soon after.