White powder, threats to election workers, artificial intelligence, deep fakes, disinformation, and nation-state adversaries are among the most immediate threats that elections officials are most concerned about as they continue preparing for elections, including this year’s monumental presidential election in November. That was among the top takeaways from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security Alumni Hour event via Zoom on Thursday, March 21.
Facilitated by CHDS faculty member Shannon Brown, the event featured elections security experts and CHDS alums Nitin Natarajan, Deputy Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Kevin McMahan, Assistant Secretary of State, Washington Office of the Secretary of State, and was titled “Election Security: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities.” The regular event drew about 140 participants and was in partnership with the CHDS Alumni Association. Brown introduced Natarajan and McMahan and said the discussion would center around three broad topics: physical security, cybersecurity, and public trust and integrity.
McMahan introduced himself by clarifying he spoke only for the State of Washington and its electoral process. However, he also noted he is in regular contact with other state election officials and that maintaining election security and integrity is a constant effort for everyone. He informed the group that Washington State conducts regular tabletop exercises during election preparations to include the state cabinet level.
His team is responsible for assisting local efforts during a response in the event of a physical or cyber security incidents, which was the case when envelopes arrived at various counties containing a white powder that tested positive for fentanyl. The response includes coordinating efforts with the state’s Fusion Center and working with other federal stakeholders such as CISA, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspector. He added that the relationship with the Fusion Center and federal and state law enforcement helped streamline the state’s response because “everyone knows everyone.”
Natarajan explained that CISA plays a critical role in helping support state and local election officials who secure elections across the nation and said that better public understanding of what goes into election preparations, including security, through transparency is a good thing while noting that in many jurisdictions the public can watch ballots being counted and learn about the electoral process. He said that CISA is a unique agency and is capable of offering a number of cybersecurity and physical security resources to elections officials to help strengthen their efforts, including tabletop exercises, adding the agency wants to make sure everyone has access to services regardless of their resources in an ongoing effort to make sure that all election officials are supported in their efforts to secure elections.
Asked by Brown what issues the community should be paying attention to about elections, McMahan said threats to election workers were a top issue and praised the legislation in Washington that made it a felony to threaten election workers. He also mentioned white powder delivery events and misinformation were concerns. At the same time, McMahan informed the group there’s always an opportunity to do better to inform and educate the public about elections through educational events.
Natarajan said it was a shame that there had been threats to election workers, such as the delivery of white powder and envelopes, swatting (making false police reports involving election workers’ home addresses), and the like.
“These are your neighbors, and they’re doing an essential job,” he said.
Regarding the global threat landscape, Natarajan noted that CISA is seeing changes in the frequency and types of attacks by nation-state adversaries, including the use of ransomware, as well as preparing for the potential emergence and proliferation of artificial intelligence, and pointed out that election security is considered one of the agency’s top four sectors of concern. McMahan thanked CISA for the resources they provided to smaller counties in his state, which tend to have fewer resources, so they can have their elections systems monitored for potential vulnerabilities and the impact these resources have in improving election security.
Asked by Brown about electoral integrity and public transparency, McMahan highlighted that his state offers materials designed to educate the population through campaigns such as “Mark the Ballot.” This character is similar to the well-known Schoolhouse Rock video “How a Bill Becomes Law.”
Natarajan reiterated that in many jurisdictions the public is offered the ability to watch ballots being counted and many aspects of the electoral process as they occur, down to observing color-coded cables connecting machines to count ballots.
Transparency, he said, is very important, adding that election officials want to help the public understand the use of technology in the election process.
McMahan added there are concerns that nation-states are “just waiting for the opportunity” to disrupt our elections and that the public should employ a “healthy skepticism” when assessing information being disseminated via social media.
Natarajan agreed there are significant threats from nation-state adversaries such as the People’s Republic of China, noting that FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified to Congress that even if every FBI agent and intelligence analyst who work on cybersecurity issues were assigned to focus on the PRC they would still be outnumbered 50-to-1.
Asked in the chat session whether security issues should prompt consideration of returning to paper ballots, McMahan highlighted that his state uses an all mail-in ballot process that includes paper ballots and maintains a record of those ballots and electoral results. As for a narrative that someone could change the results on ballot-counting machines, he said that is impossible since the tabulation machines are not on the internet—they are air-gapped. He said the counties within his state conduct Logic & Accuracy tests before every election, and the public and political parties receive invitations to attend these tests. The state’s recent Risk Limiting Audit of the presidential primary, a post-election statistical review of the results, demonstrated the ballot-counting process in Washington state was accurate to a rate of one in 5 billion.
Natarajan said CISA does not prescribe what systems jurisdictions should use and is supportive of whatever system is decided upon locally, adding that federal officials don’t want to dictate voting systems from the “Beltway” and that the agency is solely committed to supporting state and local election officials. He noted that when the public is invited to see the process in action, they are always surprised by the number of checks and balances that go into election oversight.
In closing, McMahan said he would advise the public to get to know local election officials, who are our neighbors and fellow citizens, and support them. They are responsible for and tasked with an essential job. Meanwhile, Natarajan said he would encourage people to look behind the scenes at election systems and processes because they would be surprised at how much work goes into elections security.
The next Alumni Hour event is set for April 18 and will feature CHDS senior faculty member Dave Brannan discussing Narrative Conflict.
Online resources:
Washington State Elections
Office of the Secretary of State – Elections
Path of the Ballot
Securing your Vote
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Election Security
#Protect2024
