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infrastructure companies. And we realized that we could repurpose [some of those teams], but we don't have that many of them … four or five. It was not very many."[1]
(U) DHS attempted a nuanced outreach to the states on the threat. Ms. Monaco highlighted a delicate balancing act with the interactions with states:
I know we tried very hard to strike a balance between engaging state and local officials and federal officials in the importance of raising cyber defenses and raising cybersecurity … and not sowing distrust in the system, both because, one, we believed it to be true that the system is in fact quite resilient because of what I mentioned earlier, which is the diffuse nature; and because we did not want to, as we described it, do the Russians' work for them by sowing panic about the vulnerability of the election.[2]
(U) In an August 15, 2016, conference call with state election officials, then-Secretary Johnson told states, "we're in a sort of a heightened state of alertness; it behooves everyone to do everything you can for your own cybersecurity leading up to the election." He also said that there was "no specific or credible threat known around the election system itself. I do not recall—I don't think, but I do not recall, that we knew about [State 4] and Illinois at that point."[3] The Committee notes that this call was two months after State 4's system was breached, and more than a month after Illinois was breached and the state shut down its systems to contain the problem. During this call, Secretary Johnson also broached the idea of designating election systems as critical infrastructure.
(U) A number of state officials reacted negatively to the call. Secretary Johnson said he was "surprised/disappointed that there was a certain level of pushback from at least those who spoke up. … The pushback was: This is our—I'm paraphrasing here: This is our responsibility and there should not be a federal takeover of the election system."[4]
- (U) The call "does not go incredibly well," said Mr. Daniel. "I was not on the call, no, but all of the reporting back and then all of the subsequent media reporting that is leaked about the call shows that it did not go well." Mr. Daniel continued: "I was actually quite surprised … in my head, there is this: yes, we have this extremely partisan election going on in the background; but the Russians are trying to mess with our election. To me, that's a national security issue that's not dependent on party or anything else."[5]
- ↑ (U) SSCI Transcript of the Interview with Michael Daniel, Former Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator, National Security Council, held on Wednesday, August 31, 2017, p. 41.
- ↑ (U) SSCI Transcript of the Interview with Lisa Monaco, Former Homeland Security Advisor, held on Thursday, August 10, 2017, p. 29.
- ↑ (U) SSCI Transcript of the Interview with Jeh Johnson, Former Secretary of Homeland Security, held on Monday, June 12, 2017, p. 13.
- ↑ (U) Ibid., pp. 13-14.
- ↑ (U) Ibid., p. 48.
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