The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) hosted the nation’s largest annual election security exercise this week in close coordination with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED). The exercise took place over three days, from August 15 through 17, and included a range of hypothetical scenarios affecting election operations. The annual exercise gives participants the opportunity to share practices around cyber and physical incident planning, preparedness, identification, response, and recovery.
Following the exercise, CISA Director Jen Easterly, and the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee, which includes U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Chairwoman Christy McCormick, NASS President and Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, NASED President and Rhode Island Deputy Secretary of State and Director of Administration Rob Rock, and City of Colorado Springs (Colorado) City Clerk Sarah Ball Johnson issued the following joint statement:
“The federal government and election officials remain unified in ensuring the security and resilience of our nation’s democratic processes, especially as we look toward the 2023 and 2024 elections. Today’s threat environment is increasingly dynamic and complex, and we continue working closely together. This includes the sharing of information and intelligence through multiple channels, promoting rigorous safeguarding of equipment and systems, ongoing assessments to identify risks and vulnerabilities, and participating in exercises like Tabletop the Vote.
“Elections are run by thousands of dedicated state and local election officials across the country. It is because of the incredible work of so many that the American people can have confidence in the security of our nation’s elections.”
In addition to CISA, federal participants included the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, the National Guard Bureau, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. State and local election officials participated virtually. DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas and CISA Director Jen Easterly each provided remarks to exercise participants.
