The interior medication concerns astir predetermination threats travel days aft a telephone was held betwixt national officials and section instrumentality enforcement unit astir the midterms, according to 1 of the radical acquainted with the matter. Those connected the telephone discussed the imaginable for unit successful effect to the dispersed of mendacious narratives regarding the predetermination process. Officials said predetermination workers, including those moving astatine polling stations, are apt to look threats and harassment from extremists some online and offline, the idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance said.
“We are present proceeding reports of radical surrounding ballot driblet boxes, immoderate adjacent wearing tactical gear, and questioning people,” said John Cohen, the erstwhile counterterrorism main astatine DHS. “Are the constabulary prepared for that? They request to be. All of this is being driven by the mendacious communicative that the 2020 predetermination was stolen.”
The FBI, DHS and DOJ did not instantly respond to requests for comment.
Already, determination person been incidents of equipped individuals successful tactical cogwheel showing up astatine ballot driblet boxes successful Arizona, prompting the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to beryllium called into the area.
Cyber threats to America’s predetermination infrastructure person agelong been a interest of authorities officials. Indeed, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the quality assemblage person been monitoring specified threats to the midterms for months. But officials precocious said overseas adversaries person not been actively targeting the predetermination system.
“At this time, we are not alert of immoderate circumstantial oregon credible threats to compromise oregon disrupt predetermination infrastructure,” CISA Director Jen Easterly told reporters connected Oct. 13.
Even so, Easterly said, this year’s operation of misinformation, harassment of predetermination workers and insider threats from rogue predetermination administrators makes the existent menace situation “more analyzable than it has ever been.”
CISA did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.
Officials see misinformation and disinformation the biggest threats to the midterms, fixed however casual it would beryllium for malicious actors — whether home partisans oregon overseas quality operatives — to prehend connected delayed results oregon isolated voting-machine glitches to dispersed lies astir the information of the process.
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