U.S. intelligence agencies band together to protect elections

U.S. national security officials held a rare joint news conference Thursday during the daily White House press briefing to highlight their agencies’ efforts to protect U.S. political campaigns and elections from outside interference.

“U.S. Cyber Command [and] the National Security Agency are tracking a wide range of foreign cyber adversaries and are prepared to conduct operations against those actors attempting to undermine our nation’s midterm elections,” NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone told reporters.

The White House said President Donald Trump has ordered all national security agencies to work together on a coordinated strategy to safeguard voting infrastructure and fend off influence campaigns by foreign actors. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats called out Russia in particular: “What we see is the Russians are looking for every opportunity, regardless of party, regardless of whether or not it applies to the election, to continue their pervasive efforts to undermine our fundamental values.” But he added that Russia does not appear to be successfully tipping the scale one way or the other.