Beyond that one-time connection, but I would have to connect with the team here.
All right, thanks, everybody.
Have a good one.org.
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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is also known as America's Cyber Defense Agency.
Jen Easterly has served as the director of that agency since 2021.
Explain the role that CISA plays when it comes to election security and what you're doing right now.
Yeah, well, great to be on C-SPAN.
Love it.
So CISA, and folks may not have heard of it, we're the newest agency in the federal government.
We were stood up six years ago to play two key roles.
We serve as America's cyber defense agency and as the national coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience.
So what does that mean?
We protect and defend the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every day for water, for power, for transportation, for communication, for health care, for finance, and the infrastructure that Americans use to cast their ballots and to ensure that those ballots are counted as cast.
And that came out of 2016, Russian attempts to interfere in the election.
After that, election infrastructure was designated as critical infrastructure, and CISA was designated as the federal government lead for election infrastructure security.
We all know states run elections.
What we do is we bring together support from the federal government to ensure that state and local election officials have the resources that they need to defend their election infrastructure.
So when it comes to election security, what takes more of your time or where are you mostly focused?
Are the bigger threats coming from the cyber side attacking U.S. elections or is it the infrastructure, the physical devices and places where we vote?
So I should say that based on the work that we have done over the past eight years, really what state and local election officials have done, American people should understand our election infrastructure has never been more secure.
But to your point, the threat environment has never been more complex.
There are serious cyber threats, ransomware, denial of service, so you can't get to websites.
There's very serious physical threats to election officials.
And there is a range of very serious threats from our foreign adversaries, from Russia, from Iran, from China.
They're using different tactics, but they are focused on two main goals, to undermine American trust in our democracy and our confidence in elections, and to sow partisan discord, basically pitting Americans against each other.
And so we are focused on the full range.
We've been working with election officials since the beginning of this cycle to provide physical assessments.
We've done nearly 1,200 for physical security, 700 for cybersecurity.
We've done nearly 200 exercises to work with election officials in the full range of scenarios where you could have incidents or disruptions.
And we've done hundreds of trainings to help election officials reduce risk to election systems and processes.
Drill down on the foreign threats for a second.
There's an article in the business section of today's New York Times: the headline, How Russia, China, and Iran are interfering in the U.S. elections.
Are they taking different paths to do it?
Is one of those more concerning to you than the other?
Well, they're more active and they're using more sophisticated techniques.
In some cases, they're powered by generative AI, so they're using some of these capabilities to be able to more rapidly generate fake media personas, fake websites, so they can spew this propaganda out into the U.S. and they're using unwitting influencers to get their message out widely.
I do want Americans to understand that despite this threat environment, as I said, no matter who you vote for, you can have confidence that your vote will be counted as cast.
And why am I saying that?
Well, a few things.
So, to prevent digital interference, voting machines are not connected to the internet.
Really important to understand that.
To prevent digital manipulation, over 97% paper ballots.
And to guarantee near-zero human manipulation, there are multiple, multiple layers of safeguards, physical security, cybersecurity, pre-election testing of equipment, post-election auditing to ensure that election infrastructure is safe from compromise.
And the last thing that Americans should understand is every state runs elections differently.
Different equipment, different processes.
The saying goes, if you've seen one state's election, you've seen one state's election.
And that diverse and decentralized nature of our election infrastructure is actually a great strength because it means it's not possible for a bad actor to tamper with or try and manipulate our voting systems in a way where you can have an impact on the outcome of the presidential election, certainly not without being detected.
You talk about what Americans should understand.
Do you meet with both campaigns?
Do you think they understand the level of security that you're talking about here and the safeguards that are in place?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, most of my work over the past three years has been on the ground with election officials of both parties.
And, you know, election officials will tell you this is not a political issue.
Elections are political.
Election security is not.
It's not Republican.
It's not Democrat.
It's a national security American issue.
And so we work with all aspects of the campaigns so that they can take advantage of our voluntary services.
We have cyber expertise, physical security expertise.
And that strong partnership with all of the states and the territories, I believe, has made a real difference in improving the security of our election infrastructure.
Have you ever had a meeting with Donald Trump or members of the Trump campaign to have this conversation?
Yeah, so I have folks on my team who meet with all folks from the campaigns and from the partisan organizations.
Most of our time is spent with the election officials who are running elections and ensuring the security of election infrastructure.
But we meet with anyone who wants to take advantage of our expertise and our advice.
Jen Easterly with us for about another 10 minutes here.
So get your calls in.
Phone lines, as usual, 202-748-8000 for Democrats, 202-748-8001 for Republicans.
Independents, it's 202-748-8002.
As folks are calling in, what do you make of ballot drop boxes being burned or set on fire in Oregon and Washington?
Yeah, so I talked to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs in Washington yesterday.
They are working very closely with local law enforcement and the FBI to identify the criminals involved and to hold them accountable for these crimes.
I think it's important to understand elections and certainly the presidential election is a very complex event.
You're talking hundreds of thousands of election workers, tens of thousands of polling places, some 150 million plus Americans voting.
There are going to be disruptions.
There are going to be incidents.
The good news is that election officials have prepared for this.
They've trained for this.
They've exercised for it.
And so they are ready to be able to deal with the full range of disruptions.
And when it comes to criminal activities, whether it's setting a ballot box on fire with an incendiary device or whether it's fraudulently signing up voters as we saw happened in Pennsylvania, those things will be, they will be caught, they will be investigated, and those who did it will be held liable.
You mentioned Pennsylvania.
I did want to give you a chance to talk about this October 25th threat update that CISA put out about a video circulating, purporting to show ballots being destroyed in Pennsylvania.
Yeah.
Well, it goes back to your point.
As we noted in a statement on Friday, that was Russian.
Look, we've been warning about this for months now.
One of the things we've tried to do, learning lessons from the past, is to get with the intelligence community and the FBI and be much more proactive.
We actually put up a webpage earlier this week that shows all of the updates from the intelligence community that have been declassified about foreign adversary activity.
We've seen Russia.
We've seen Iran.
We've seen China.
And by the way, we've also seen disruptions.
We've seen indictments against Russia.
We've seen indictments against Iran for the hack and leak operation against the Trump campaign.
And so there are massive efforts going on to ensure the safety of our elections.
I've got to think there's more fake videos out there.
What does it take to get a specific threat advisory from CISA on a video?
Is it the fact that this one was kind of going viral?
Yeah, well, we were very focused on the fact that this was, it went viral, but also it was clearly, as we looked at it, it was very similar to what we had seen from Russia before.
We had talked about in the advisory that there was another video against the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic campaign.
And again, we're seeing a lot of this.
We've written about them.
What we're trying to do is empower the American people with the information that they need to be able to make a smart decision about having confidence in the integrity of their vote.
I know it's a busy time for you.
I appreciate you stopping by.
Let me get you a few calls before you have to run.
This is Carol in Louisville, Line for Democrats.
Go ahead.
Hello, Jen and John.
That has a nice ring to it, by the way.
You had a show on about, I don't know, several weeks ago, and you had, during the call-in, it was just for poll workers.
I think you had probably close to 17 different calls.
It was about 30 minutes long.
It was just for poll workers.
And from what I understand, most of these poll workers were all, they've worked several elections.
And just watching that made me feel very, very good about the security of the election and at the polls themselves.
Because it's usually the same people.
I mean, I see the same people there when we go to vote.
They're always working the booth.
And that's the first time anybody's going to touch a ballot.
So if anything's going to happen, it could just start there.
So I guess my question is, so we're safe at the polls.
And what we're worried about is the cybersecurity from other countries.
I was just curious, are you with, is this agency you're with, Jen?
Is that part of the federal government?
Yeah, thanks so much for the question, Carol.
And I'm glad to hear your comments about poll workers because I have spent a lot of this time, my time in this job, getting a chance to work with election officials and to meet with poll workers.
And, you know, frankly, it is humbling to see people who are willing to stand on the front lines of our democracy.
They're not getting, you know, it's not for pay, it's not for fame, it's not for glory.
They're doing this for democracy.
And so thank you for raising that because when anybody goes to the polls, you should thank your poll workers.
CISA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
We are a nonpartisan, non-political agency that is focused on protecting and preserving the infrastructure Americans rely on.
And that segment that we did, it was an hour-long segment.
I remember it was 22 callers, and one of the poll workers had been working at the polls.
The first time that she worked at the polls was 1968.
Yeah, it's amazing, right?
I mean, people have this in their blood because they love to make sure that they're playing their part in protecting our democracy.
And by the way, if there are skeptics out there who lack confidence in the security of our elections, like sign up to be a poll worker.
That is such a great thing to do.
Tony in Texas, Slime for Republicans.
Good morning.
You're next.
Hey, I really love C-SPAN.
You still can't get an HD down here, but I have a question for you, ma'am.
Have you guys ever considered putting the drop boxes in a postal vehicle and kind of organizing it better that way and securing it in a postal vehicle?
Because nobody's going to burn down a mail truck.
Yeah.
So thanks so much for the question, Tony.
As you know, by the Constitution, states run elections, and every state has the ability to run things differently.
I know that states that rely heavily on drop boxes, you know, as you probably know, Washington or you may know Washington is all mail in voting.
And so there are things being put in place to ensure the security of those drop boxes.
I think having seen this issue around incendiary devices, they may look at other steps that they can take to ensure the integrity and security of those drop boxes.
I will tell you that, you know, there are, there are a lot of things that are put in place to do that.
There are anti-incendiary devices.
That's why in Oregon, the incident there really saved all but I think two or three ballots.
Only two or three were damaged.
And so there are ways to deal with this stuff.
But, you know, great to come up with some of these ideas.
And hopefully election officials will continue to put in place measures to ensure as much security as possible.
Independent Line, Trent Monroe, Louisiana.
Good morning.
Hey man, this is not my issue.
Can we talk about paper ballots?
That would be fine.
And my next door neighbor was the CFO of CenturyLink, and he's steeped in this cybersecurity business.
And Jen, I think he would disagree with everything you're saying.
What do you want to talk about paper ballots for Trent?
It's certainly an issue as part of election security.
It just seems like there's no problem after that.
France can do it in one day.
And everybody feels good about it.
Yeah, so a couple things.
Paper ballots, I agree with you.
It's really important, and there's been an increase in paper ballots.
The great news is over 97% paper ballots.
So most of the country, to include all of the battleground states, has paper ballots.
So if there are any places where it's close, there will be records that can be counted and recounted to ensure accuracy.
And look, just to your point about cybersecurity, as the director of the cybersecurity agency, as somebody who's been doing this for decades, I'm happy to talk to your friend.
I think my point would be is that because of the multiple layers that have been put in place, and it's not just cybersecurity, it's physical access controls, it's procedural controls, it's checks and balances, it's pre-election testing of equipment, and it's post-election audits.
That's how I can say with confidence that it would not be possible to hack into machines in a way that you could have a material impact on the outcome of the presidential election.
Certainly not without being detected.
You know, it's really important to understand the machines that Americans use to vote are not connected to the internet.
And so that should hopefully give you some confidence, maybe not the confidence that I have, but there is massive protections.
And that's why I say that our election infrastructure has never been more secure.
Final 90 seconds here.
I know you have to run, but I know CISA is also tracking post-election threats as well.
What are you watching for there?
Yeah, so everyone should know the elections aren't over when the polls close.
You know, those are unofficial results that you see, and it may take election officials a few days to get a final result.
If things are very close, there may be recounts, there may be audits similar to what was done in 2020.
And so we all need to be patient.
We want to get an accurate result.
And one of the things that we've been warning about in the reports is that our foreign adversaries may take the opportunity in the days following the election where there could be uncertainty about who the winner is to really create that wedge to undermine American confidence in the legitimacy of the vote, to sow partisan discord, to foment violence.
And so we all need to be vigilant.
We all have a role in protecting and preserving our democracy.
And the foundation of our democracy is our ability to vote, to have free and fair and safe and secure elections.
And so we all need to come together to preserve that sacred right.
The agency is CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Jen Easterly is the director, has been the director since 2021.
Really appreciate you stopping by.
Thanks so much, John.
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