Department of Homeland Security Planning to Take Control of Electoral Process


Comparing the classification of the election as “critical infrastructure” to similar designations for Wall Street and the nation’s power grid, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson urged Americans to get behind his department’s proposal. Gee, that’s reassuring – they already have all this power over America’s power and financial systems, yet that still isn’t enough for them:

“‘We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid,’ Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.

‘There’s a vital national interest in our election process, so I do think we need to consider whether it should be considered by my department and others critical infrastructure,’ he said at a media conference earlier this month hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

DHS has a vital security role in 16 areas of critical infrastructure and they provide a model for what the department and Johnson could have in mind for the election.

DHS describes it this way on their website: ‘There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.'”

A White House policy directive adds, “The federal government also has a responsibility to strengthen the security and resilience of its own critical infrastructure, for the continuity of national essential functions, and to organize itself to partner effectively with and add value to the security and resilience efforts of critical infrastructure owners and operators.”

At the time, Johnson did not mention specific security issues, but the FBI has since cited one hack and another attempt.

Johnson also said that the big issue at hand is that there isn’t a central election system since the states run elections. “There’s no one federal election system. There are some 9,000 jurisdictions involved in the election process,” Johnson said.

Source: Washington Examiner

You can see DHS Head Johnson announce their intentions here.



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