National security leaders from Issue One’s National Council on Election Integrity respond to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing on 2024 election threats

In response to today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, which focused on foreign threats to our election infrastructure, Issue One released the following statement from former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Admiral Bill Owens, two members of the bipartisan National Council on Election Integrity:

Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: “We know that foreign adversaries have long sought to exploit partisan divides within our country and meddle in our elections. It should come as no surprise that these actors are already amping up their efforts again ahead of the 2024 election, in hopes of creating disruption through cyber attacks or spurring a physical assault on our election infrastructure. Any attack on our election infrastructure could damage the integrity of the election outcome, and also put election officials in harm’s way. Members of Congress have a duty to protect our national security and critical election infrastructure from foreign interference, and they can do so by ensuring that state and local election officials have the resources they need to keep our elections free and fair.”

Admiral Bill Owens: “Our adversaries have a vested interest in disrupting our democracy and our elections through targeted misinformation campaigns. We have seen actors like Russia pollute our information ecosystem and exploit the lack of guardrails on social media and content delivery platforms to sow distrust in our democratic processes. There’s no doubt that they will escalate their attacks in the months ahead. When coupled with how rapidly generative AI is advancing, our adversaries have never had more tools to meddle in our elections as they do now. Our intelligence community, along with members of Congress, must empower election officials by equipping them with the most up-to-date systems and increase federal funding so officials can combat the latest threats and bolster our election infrastructure.”