Officials Brief Trump on Election Security

Top cabinet officials briefed President Donald Trump Thursday on efforts to improve the security of election systems in advance of the 2018 midterms, according to a White House release.

The briefing follows months of prodding by congressional Democrats who charge the president is disinterested in the threat posed to U.S. elections by Russia and other digital adversaries.

The president has wavered on endorsing the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russian government-backed hackers attempted to undermine the 2016 election through a hacking and influence campaign.

That campaign included scanning election systems in at least 21 states but there’s no evidence Russian hackers actually penetrated voting systems or changed any votes.

The election security briefing was conducted by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, among other officials, according to the White House release.

The briefing covered the current state of election security and best practices the federal government is advocating to state and local election officials such as using paper ballots.

It also covered Homeland Security Department efforts to scan state election systems for digital vulnerabilities and to issue security clearances to state election officials, which will make it easier to share cyber threat information.

“The administration is focused on working with state and local election officials to ensure that every American’s vote counts and is counted correctly,” the release states.

The president “reiterated his guidance that election security is national security,” according to the release.