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Senate Intelligence Committee to Question Homeland Security Head

by VOA News

   Members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee are set to question
   Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson about the agency's efforts
   to prevent foreign interference in this year's mid-term elections.
   President Barack Obama's Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson will also
   testify Wednesday before the committee, which has been critical of both
   administrations for not acting more quickly to limit Russia's meddling
   in the 2016 elections.
   The testimony will come one day after the panel recommended Congress
   "urgently pass" legislation to increase federal help to states that are
   trying to prevent their election systems from being hacked as some were
   in 2016.
   The recommendations are included in the committee's initial findings
   after spending more than a year investigating Russian attempts to
   target voting systems during the 2016 campaign.
   The recommendations also call on state election officials to ensure
   voting machines have paper audit trails and are not capable of being
   connected to the Internet.In addition, the committee recommends that
   Homeland Security develop channels of communication between federal,
   state and local officials and that Washington "clearly communicate"
   that attacks on elections are hostile and appropriate agencies should
   "respond accordingly."
   Homeland Security has said Russian agents targeted the election systems
   in 21 states before the November 2016 election and separately engaged
   in a social media campaign that was designed to create confusion and
   fuel social discord.U.S. intelligence agencies have said, however,
   there is no evidence the hacks affected election results, although they
   have concluded that Russia meddled in the campaign. Moscow has
   repeatedly denied interfering in the campaign.

   Intelligence officials have repeatedly warned they have indications
   Russian agents are preparing a new campaign to interfere in the
   upcoming November midterm elections, when control of Congress is at
   stake.
   "We are here to express concerns, but also confidence in our state and
   local governments," Senator Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of
   the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Tuesday on Capitol
   Hill.
   The committee's recommendations are a preview of an election security
   report that is expected to be released in its entirety in the coming
   weeks.
   The report is being finalized as Congress is considering more funding
   for election security in a broad spending bill that could be considered
   by the House and Senate this week.
   The Senate Intelligence Committee has been conducting what is widely
   viewed as the least partisan out of the three primary congressional
   probes of Russia's meddling in 2016.
   Special Counsel Robert Mueller also is investigating Russia's
   activities in 2016, as well as looking into the possibility of
   collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice by Trump associates.