RICHARD BURR NORTH CAROLINA CHAIRMAN MARK R WARNER VIRGINIA VICE CHAIRMAN JAMES E RISCH IDAHO DIANNE FEINSTEIN CALIFORNIA MARCO RUBIO FLORIDA RON WYDEN OREGON SUSAN M COLLINS MAINE MARTIN HEINRICH NEW MEXICO nov BLUNT MISSOURI ANGUS 5 KING 3a MAINE JAMES LANKFORD OKLAHOMA JOE MANCHIN WEST VIRGINIA ta Enatt TOM COTTON ARKANSAS KAMALA HARRIS CALIFORNIA 5 JOHN CORNYN TEXAS SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE MITCH MCCONNELL KENTUCKY Ex OFFICIO CHARLES SCHUMER NEW YORK EX OFFICIO WASHINGTON DC 2051045475 JOHN MCCAIN ARIZONA EX OFFICIO JACK REED RHODE EX OFFICIO June 20 2017 KELSEY STROUD BAILEY CHIEF CLERK The Honorable John F Kelly Secretary of Homeland Security Washington DC 20528 Dear Secretary Kelly I am writing to request that you urgently work with state election officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI to disclose publicly the full scope of foreign attempts to interfere in the 2016 elections in the United States by hacking into or attempting to target state and local election systems I am deeply concerned about the danger of future foreign interference in our elections A January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment concluded that Russia obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state and local electoral boards While I am not aware of evidence that the 2016 voting process itself was subjected to manipulation and have no reason to doubt the validity of the election results we know that the DHS and FBI have con rmed two intrusions into voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois by foreign- based hackers though no data was modi ed or deleted At the same time there was suspicious activity aimed at the election databases of multiple other states The good news is that these attempts were not success il in 2016 The bad news is that it is clear that these will not be the last attempts that we will see and the next electoral cycle in 2018 will provide further targets for hackers Some states including Virginia have major elections upcoming this year underscoring the urgency of this issue Overall the breadth and scope of the 2016 intrusion attempts underscore the intention of the Russian government to undermine con dence in our election systems I strongly believe that the answer to such efforts to interfere in our elections is to harden our cyber defenses and to thoroughly educate the American public about the danger posed by these attacks I therefore urge you to work closely with state and local election of cials to disclose publicly which states were targeted to ensure that they are fully aware of the threat and to make certain that their cyber defenses are able to neutralize this danger We are not made safer by keeping the scope and breadth of these attacks secret The Honorable John F Kelly June 20 2017 Page Two Additionally I appreciate that your Department designated the nation s election infrastructure as critical infrastructure in January to allow for better information sharing with and the prioritization of cybersecurity assistance to state and local jurisdictions I request that you provide an update to the Committee on what actions the Department has taken since this designation to improve and increase such assistance I look forward to your response Sincerely Mark R Warner Vice Chairman CC Acting FBI Director Andrew G McCabe National Association of Secretaries of State National Association of State Election Directors                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu