Safeguarding Election Is Top Trump Priority, Officials Say

U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday that there are “ongoing” threats -- primarily coming from Russian sources -- to election security in the upcoming midterms. Speaking at the daily White House briefing, they emphasized that President Trump wants to address this concern as a top priority.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray took questions during the briefing, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Gen. Paul Nakasone, who heads U.S. Cyber Command.

“The president has specifically directed us to make the matter of election meddling and securing our election process a top priority,” said Coats. He said the focus remains on Russia but that the government is monitoring other countries that have similar capabilities and interest in election meddling. “In regards to Russian involvement in the midterm elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign … to try to weaken and divide the United States,” he said.

When asked if the new threats are more sophisticated than those in 2016 or aimed at a specific party, Coats said the intelligence agencies have not seen evidence of that: “They stepped up their game big time in 2016. We have not seen that kind of robust effort from them so far.”

The officials said the main goal of the briefing was to acknowledge the threats and let the American people know they are being addressed. They said agencies learned their lesson from the 2016 election but said responding is an ongoing effort as new threats pop up.