Russians targeted 21 election systems,
U.S. official says
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[June 22, 2017]
By Dustin Volz and Julia Edwards Ainsley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian hackers
targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race
and a small number were breached but there was no evidence any votes
were manipulated, a Homeland Security Department official told Congress
on Wednesday.
Jeanette Manfra, the department's acting deputy undersecretary of cyber
security, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Kremlin orchestrated a
wide-ranging influence operation that included email hacking and online
propaganda to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton and help Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White House in
November.
The Russia issue has cast a shadow over Trump's first five months in
office. The extent of interference by Russian hackers, and whether they
or others could interfere in future elections, has been the source of
speculation and media reports for months.
Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility for any cyber attacks during
the election. Trump has variously said Russia may or may not have been
responsible for hacking but has dismissed allegations his associates
colluded with Moscow as "fake news."
Manfra and other officials testifying on Wednesday said U.S. elections
are resilient to hacking in part because they are decentralized and
largely operated on the state and local level.
Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the
Democrats, voiced skepticism, saying only a small number of votes in key
battleground states would need to be altered to tip the scales in an
election.
"A sophisticated actor could hack an election simply by focusing on
certain counties," King said. "I don't think it works just to say it’s a
big system and diversity will protect us."
Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, expressed frustration
at Manfra's refusal to identify which states had been targeted. Arizona
and Illinois last year confirmed that hackers had targeted their voter
registration systems.
Samuel Liles, another senior DHS cyber official, likened states targeted
or scanned to a thief walking by homes to scout for weaknesses, and
breaches to breaking through a front door.
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security emblem is pictured at the
National Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Center (NCCIC)
located just outside Washington in Arlington, Virginia September 24,
2010. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang/File Photo
INVESTIGATION
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, met on
Wednesday with senior Senate Judiciary Committee members to ensure
there was no conflict between his investigation of potential
collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and the panel's
probe of what led to Trump firing Federal Bureau of Investigation
Director James Comey.
Trump acknowledged on Friday he was under investigation in the probe
of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 race and possible collusion
by his campaign, and seemed to assail the Justice Department
official overseeing the inquiry.
Mueller was examining whether Trump or others sought to obstruct the
probe, a person familiar with the inquiry told Reuters.
Jeh Johnson, who led the Homeland Security Department until the end
of the Obama administration, told the U.S. House of Representatives
Intelligence Committee his department had issued warnings about
hacking into voter registration databases.
Asked why the Obama administration did not do more to warn the
public, Johnson said: "We were very concerned that we would not be
perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into
a very heated campaign."
He told the House committee, which is investigating alleged Russian
meddling in the election, that the notices did not get the attention
he would have liked, blaming the emergence of a 2005 videotape - in
which Trump brags about sexual conquests - for distracting the
American public.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Writing by Phil Stewart;
Editing by James Dalgleish)
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