Currents
November 2017
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describes efforts by a Russian military intelligence
unit to disrupt the presidential election by targeting a
Tallahassee firm that sells voter-registration software
and then 122 election management officials through-
out the country. After the national security news out-
let the Intercept published the intelligence report
Monday, the Times/Herald sent requests for the
Russian emails to all 67 Florida elections offices.
Why was this information kept from Floridians in the
first place? A contractor is charged with leaking the
classified intelligence report
describing the Russian hacking
attempts, but without that leak
Florida elections officials and the
state's voters would not have
known the extent of this effort to
sway the election.
The very idea of Russian
hackers attempting to corrupt the
computer systems of county elec-
tions offices in Florida to influence
a national election would have
been the stuff of spy movies not
so long ago. Now it is the sober-
ing reality, and Floridians need to
know exactly what happened and
what more will be done to prevent
such interference in our elections
going forward.
US News
Just six of the 10 states that
requested additional money to
firm up cybersecurity at their elec-
tion agencies are expecting to
receive it, Politico reported Tues-
day, while 21 states have called
on new federal funding to
strengthen local election security
or replace outdated voting
machines susceptible to hacking
and intrusion.
Despite the obvious need to
secure election processes against
the threat of hostile foreign net-
works, the country remains
divided over how to go about pay-
ing for the new protections. The
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