Sen. Mark Warner is as well-positioned as anybody to comment on the integrity of the upcoming 2020 elections, being vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and all.
The committee received a briefing on election security on Wednesday.
Warner felt compelled to issue a statement today that he seems to think will quell any concerns.
That statement:
“Our nation has a 200-year history of successful elections, followed by a peaceful transfer of power. Yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee received a briefing on election security from our nation’s top officials. We all know that the election process will look different this year, in light of COVID-19, and we may not know the results on election night. The Intelligence Community (IC) warned that, as a result, the period immediately before and after the election could be uniquely volatile. But we should continue to have faith in the state and local officials who are responsible for the conduct of our elections and the IC and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials who help to protect them, and make sure that all the votes are counted.
“The President of the United States should not be aiding and abetting foreign adversaries who are working to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the American election system.”
Attached to the statement was a reference to the third volume in the Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russian election interference, “U.S. Government Response to Russian Activities,” which was approved on a bipartisan basis by the Republican-led Committee.
That report included a series of recommendations for improving the security of our elections in the future, including:
(U) Sitting officials and candidates should use the absolute greatest amount of restraint and caution if they are considering publicly calling the validity of an upcoming election into question. Such a grave allegation can have significant national security and electoral consequences, including limiting the response options of the appropriate authorities, and exacerbating the already damaging messaging efforts of foreign intelligence services. (Page 45)
I’m not sure I feel better.
Story by Chris Graham
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