We rely and go to your sister in cyber readiness expertise here because we understand the misinformation concerns. We were just talking about them with our previous guest. Give us the facts that this is resilient, that we are safe. We are safe. So while elections themselves are political, election security is not. Election security is national security. And our election officials, our election infrastructure stakeholders have never been more prepared to administer a safe, secure, and resilient election. What's important to note is that after the 2016 election, elections themselves became critical infrastructure, which means that we determined as a federal government with industry that elections are critical to how we function as a society. Therefore, additional resources have been allocated to all of the state and local officials that are actively prepared, have actively prepared for, and are now administering these elections. Can you give us exact details? I mean, measles is one thing, but actual practices, ways in which we know and

contrast in the systems that exist. So, first of all, we have to look historically. So, since the beginning of 2023, the federal government has worked closely with state and local officials to conduct physical assessments of election systems. Importantly, to run almost 200 exercises that prepare these individuals and these communities in these regions for different scenarios that may come into play. It's also important to note that elections are not connected to the Internet, therefore giving it a different level of resilience. And what's also very critical is that 97% of registered voters are in jurisdictions with paper records, meaning we have this backup and this resilience for audits, etc. Kiss. And last night, US intelligence agencies issued a joint statement. In our reporting, we say is unprecedented warning that adversaries, Russia being at the forefront of it, have stepped up efforts to disrupt this election. Calling on your experience and your time in relevant agencies. Why is that significant?

Well, what we know is that our foreign adversaries are absolutely conducting malign influence operations that have had two real goals. The first is to undermine the confidence of Americans in our democracy. And the second is to sow discord, to just pit Americans against one another when there's actually nothing there. But what is critical about this election is we're seeing the federal government work across agencies to put out these joint announcements and to get this information out as quickly as possible. This is a big difference from where we were in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022. It's improved each year. So actually, the more that we hear about this, the better because there is information that we are being able to communicate to voters to say, be aware of this so that we're creating a more educated electorate. Through cybersecurity. What are the biggest vulnerabilities that a voter today of all days might face throughout the day? Where is this manifesting itself for

everyday people? I worry less about cybersecurity. I worry more about just people's confidence in the system. There has never been a more important time for individuals, for citizens to believe in the resilience of this nation, to believe in our ability to connect, to conduct safe, secure elections, and to be personally resilient. And each voter has accountability and responsibility in this moment to get the right information. State and local election officials are the trusted sources for information. If a voter has any doubt about anything to go, typically they're on websites. Vote dot gov can direct you where to go. But it's really important that individuals and voters find this information to be secure.

Combatting Persistent Election Interference Fears

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