The head of a top federal agency for election security is insisting the upcoming presidential election in the United States will be secure and not affected by any foreign interference. She made those statements in a lengthy interview with The Associated Press (AP).
Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told the AP, there is no way American adversaries, such as Russia or Iran, will be able to alter the results.
“Malicious actors, even if they tried, could not have an impact at scale, such that there would be a material effect on the outcome of the election,” Easterly said.
She added that it is important to understand that the machines that Americans will use to cast ballots are not connected to the internet, which makes it difficult for malicious foreign actors to impact how votes are cast and counted.
In September, federal prosecutors charged three Iranian operatives with hacking the Trump campaign. In addition, the Biden administration seized more than two dozen fake websites and charged two Russian state media employees with crimes.
Easterly said her agency works with elections officials to disseminate accurate information, and there are layers of security to make sure the information is accurate.
Her remarks come after U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, from the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter to the agency to take steps to deal with election misinformation and disinformation.
Easterly also noted that her office is now working with elections officials from states impacted by Hurricane Helene so that voters there have a chance to cast their ballots in the upcoming election.