by Steven Richards
Emerging evidence shows that the Intelligence Community raised concerns internally about the vulnerability of election systems and apparent Chinese efforts to obtain sensitive voter data. But previous administrations intentionally hid that from the American public.
After the 2020 election, many senior Intelligence Community officials insisted on the historical security of the 2020 election and downplayed concerns about vulnerabilities.
The emerging evidence suggests that, rather than the 2020 elections being the “most secure in American history,” intelligence analysts had serious concerns about the vulnerability of American election systems to foreign intrusions and even gathered evidence of foreign efforts to interfere.
One of the lead government officials responsible for election security, Chris Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, testified to the Senate after the election that he had approved an assessment that said “the 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history.” Krebs anti-Trump actions have been addressed by the White House.
However, at the time of his testimony, the U.S. intelligence community had gathered significant intelligence of Chinese intrusions into multiple states’ voter rolls, developed raw reports about an alleged Chinese plot to manufacture fake driver’s licenses to facilitate fraudulent voting, and knew of similar Iranian hacks.
Just the News has reported extensively on the Intelligence Community’s internal concerns about the vulnerability of election systems and the alleged Chinese and Iranian efforts to obtain sensitive voter data:
U.S. Intel secretly flagged major election vulnerabilities in January 2020
Months before the 2020 presidential election, U.S. intelligence issued a secret but stark warning that foreign adversaries had the capability to “compromise" America's voting infrastructure, according to a memo that was declassified this year by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The National Intelligence Council's (NIC) concerns were so extensive that officials personally briefed President Donald Trump at the White House in February 2020, according to photos obtained by Just the News showing top CIA, FBI and Homeland Security officials joining with NIC analysts to inform the president.
Intelligence analysts were particularly concerned about the vulnerability of voter registration databases that later would be penetrated by China and Iran in separate hacking incidents. The January 2020 NIC assessment warned clearly that voter registration databases—along with poll books that keep a list of authorized voters—were among the most vulnerable to hacking and manipulation by foreign powers, Just the News reported this week.
China hacked U.S. voter rolls in several states
U.S. intelligence has known since 2020 that Beijing gained access to American voter data in several states in the lead up to that year’s election, but never shared that information with the American people or the Congress.
“[Redacted] Chinese intelligence officials analyzed multiple U.S. states' [Redacted] election voter registration data, [Redacted] to conduct public opinion analysis on the 2020 US general election,” stated a once highly classified April 2020 National Intelligence Council memo entitled "Cyber Operations Enabling Expansive Authoritarianism."
That memo, heavily redacted and quietly declassified by the Biden administration two years after it was written, escaped most public notice until Just the News reported on it last month.
Current and former U.S. officials told Just the News that U.S. intelligence agencies possess several raw reports dating to spring 2020 showing China gained access to American voter registration data spanning several states as well as a few finished intelligence products referring to such breaches, including at least one presidential daily briefing.
U.S. intelligence has acknowledged at least two other foreign powers have breached American voter data: Russia and Iran, Just the News reported.
Hidden intelligence pointed toward an alleged Chinese plot to manufacture photo IDs
Last June, FBI Director Kash Patel turned over an intelligence report to Congress which raised concerns that China had mass-produced fake U.S. driver's licenses to carry out a scheme to hijack the 2020 election with fake mail-in ballots for Democrat Joe Biden.
The newly declassified intelligence reports from August 2020 weren’t corroborated or fully investigated and instead were recalled from intelligence agencies at about the time that then-FBI Director Chris Wray testified there were no known plots of foreign interference ahead of the 2020 election, officials told Just the News.
Officials later told Just the News that the FBI located internal documents showing that it did not pursue that intelligence because the bureau feared that it would undercut then-FBI Director Christopher Wray’s assurances to Congress that foreign meddling did not pose a threat to the presidential race. Those documents were reportedly transmitted to Congress.
Analysts downplayed election-related intelligence for political reasons
In January 2021, the Intelligence Community analytic ombudsman — tasked with ensuring objectivity in intelligence products — conducted a review of the spy community’s handling of Russian and Chinese meddling efforts during the 2020 election. He concluded that intelligence analysts downplayed China’s actions because they had disdain for the “vulgarian” Trump and did not want to support the policies and priorities of the Trump administration toward China with which they “personally disagree,” Just the News reported last month.
Other Chinese efforts to influence the 2020 election were buried by intelligence community leaders and Iranian efforts to meddle in that election were also downplayed, Just the News previously reported.
A confidential human source told FBI counter-intelligence in the summer of 2020 that China’s communist government was seeking to meddle in the impending election to help then-candidate Joe Biden, according to a raw intelligence report distributed to federal agencies that was reviewed and made public by Just the News last year. This report was soon recalled, with spy agencies told to delete the information before they had a chance to properly investigate its claims.
Steven Richards
Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/despite-official-assurances-2020-election-wasnt-most-secure-election-us-history
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