WASHINGTON 鈥� Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen sought to assure a Senate panel on Wednesday that her agency is doing all it can to protect voting systems against hacking and cyber threats ahead of the midterm elections.
But she acknowledged that China is carrying out widespread efforts to exert influence on Americans as the elections approach.
鈥淐hina absolutely is exerting unprecedented effort to influence American opinion,鈥� Nielsen said, adding that 鈥渨e have not seen to date any Chinese attempts to compromise election infrastructure.鈥�
Nielsen clarified comments she made during a last week, which followed President Trump鈥檚 surprising statement before the U.N. Security Council that China had been trying to interfere in the upcoming election.
During Wednesday鈥檚 hearing, Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan, referred to the president鈥檚 comments at the U.N., asking Nielsen whether there was a potential election threat that 鈥測ou don鈥檛 know about,鈥� but that the president does.
Nielsen also addressed concerns about the potential Russian threat. She was criticized earlier this year by Democrats after she initially declined to acknowledge the assessment of intelligence officials that Moscow was involved in earlier election meddling.
鈥淲ith weeks to go until the midterms, top of mind for most Americans is the Russian interference in our 2016 elections,鈥� Nielsen said. 鈥淭his was a direct attack on our democracy. We should not, cannot and will not tolerate such attacks or let them happen again.鈥�
Nielsen, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said her agency has worked with the private sector and officials in all 50 states in efforts to make voting systems more secure. She said that鈥檚 being done by sharing intelligence and deploying cyber experts to review computer systems.
Maryland has come under scrutiny after the FBI revealed that a software company with ties to a Russian oligarch runs part of the state鈥檚 voter registration system.
In September of last year, Virginia elections officials took many of the state鈥檚 touch-screen electronic voting machines out of service. The decision was made ahead of last year鈥檚 statewide elections after hackers showed those machine models were vulnerable.
Nielsen said that by the time U.S. elections are held next month, 鈥渘etwork security sensors will cover 90 percent of registered voters.鈥� The technology allows federal officials to look into state computer systems and help identify activities linked to hacking.
DHS also will host a virtual nationwide 鈥渟ituation room鈥� on Election Day to help respond to any problems, Nielsen said.
