CISA director: Americans should be confident in integrity of 2022 midterms
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday she is confident in the integrity of the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.
Why it matters: Easterly's comments come after researchers at Google-owned Mandiant said last week they detected a group operating in support of the Chinese government attempting to influence and disrupt the upcoming elections.
- Russia, China and Iran have previously launched disinformation and cyber campaigns to affect U.S. elections to sow distrust in the American political system and further divide the country.
What they're saying: "I have confidence in the elections that are going to be run because of the massive amount of work that's been done across the federal government, at state and local election officials with election vendors to put multiple, multiple layers of resilience and security controls in place," Easterly said.
- "I am confident elections will be safe and secure, and the American people should have confidence in the integrity of elections," she added.
The big picture: This year, however, U.S. officials are staring down a complex map of election security concerns that go beyond the now-expected foreign hack-and-leak operations, Axios' Sam Sabin reports.
- The Department of Justice and FBI also warned earlier this month about domestic threats to elections, specifically threats to election workers and voter intimidation efforts in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Go deeper: Officials brace for unprecedented efforts to disrupt 2022 vote
Editor's note: The headline and story have been corrected to reflect that Jen Easterly said she's confident in the integrity of the midterm elections, not that she's confident the elections would be free from foreign interference.
