2016 ELECTION/CYBERWAR/DHS: “The Department of Homeland Security is clearing the way for state election officials to apply for security clearances so they can review classified information about cyberthreats to their election systems, federal and state authorities said in interviews this week.
The move comes after many state officials criticized the federal agency for, in their view, failing to provide certain information about suspected attempts to hack voter-registration systems during the 2016 presidential election. DHS formally designated election systems ‘critical infrastructure’ in January, which federal officials said would help the agency prioritize election-security efforts.
Still, state officials of both parties continue to say they have lacked clarity on whether sensitive cybersecurity information could be shared, including whether election equipment used by vendors or localities in their state were the target of an attack…
The clearances are for the purpose of sharing classified cyberthreat information related to election systems with each state’s top election official, a DHS official said. The clearances would be at the ‘secret’ level, which is midlevel and doesn’t include the nation’s most sensitive secrets. DHS already offers a similar arrangement to certain private-sector industries deemed ‘critical infrastructure,’ the official said.
DHS contacted state officials to begin the process of obtaining security clearances last week, an official said. Officials in West Virginia, Vermont, Maine and Arizona told the Journal they had heard from DHS on the subject.”
-Alexa Corse, “State Election Officials to Get Security Clearances for Cyberthreat Data,” The Wal Street Journal online, Aug. 10, 2017 03:45pm