Senators to Evanina: Election Security Demands Disclosure of Russian Threat - to Congress & the American People

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) wrote National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina demanding substantive action to protect our elections from foreign interference. At the beginning of August, Evanina issued a vaguely cautionary public statement on foreign threats to American elections. Instead of expanding on that warning by more fully informing the American people or providing a plan to combat foreign election interference, the Trump Administration canceled upcoming Congressional intelligence briefings.

“We are alarmed that the Administration has failed to provide the American public with critical information on the threats to our election, and taken steps that conceal facts about attacks on our democracy, including from the people’s representatives in Congress,” the senators wrote. “Given the real and demonstrated dangers of foreign interference, we urge you to swiftly reverse course by reinstating in-person congressional briefings, issuing a new statement that includes concrete details on the actors involved and tactics used in this malign interference, and providing a substantive plan to protect the bedrock of our democracy – free and fair elections.”

The full text of today’s letter is available here.

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