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U.S. NEWS Thursday 3 OcTOber 2024
Cybersecurity head says there’s no chance a foreign adversary

can change US election results

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY tion infrastructure or pro-
and ALI SWENSON cesses,” Easterly said.
Associated Press The prevalence of election
WASHINGTON (AP) — Se- misinformation has become
curity for America’s elec- a widespread concern, with
tion systems has become secretaries of state and
so robust that Russia, Iran or some larger local election
any other foreign adversary offices establishing specific
will not be able to alter the efforts to combat it.
outcome of this year’s presi- U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of
dential race, the head of Virginia, a Democrat who
the nation’s cybersecurity leads the Senate Intel-
agency said Wednesday. ligence Committee, last
Jen Easterly told The Asso- week wrote a letter to East-
ciated Press in an interview erly that urged the agency
that voting, ballot-counting to take further steps against
and other election infra- election misinformation and
structure is more secure to- disinformation, including
day than it’s ever been. coordinating with social
“Malicious actors, even if media platforms to combat
they tried, could not have false claims.
an impact at scale such In the interview, Easterly ac-
that there would be a ma- knowledged “a very convo-
terial effect on the out- Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Jen Easterly speaks luted, very confusing infor-
come of the election,” said to The Associated Press in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Associated Press mation environment,” and
Easterly, director of the U.S. said her agency works with
Cybersecurity and Infra- U.S. officials have spent fluencers. potentially sway American election officials to promote
structure Security Agency. recent months warning Last week, three Iranian op- voters. Iran and Russia have accurate information.
Federal agencies have through criminal charges, eratives were charged with sought to influence past U.S. However, she also made it
warned of growing at- sanctions and public advi- hacking Trump’s campaign elections through online dis- clear that her agency does
tempts by Russia and Iran in sories that foreign adversar- in what the Justice Depart- information and hacking. not monitor social media
particular to influence vot- ies are ramping up their ef- ment says was part of a Easterly noted that China sites or attempt to moder-
ers before the Nov. 5 elec- forts to influence the White sweeping effort to under- also was “very interested” ate their content.
tion and election conspira- House contest between Re- mine the former president in influencing the 2024 elec- “That is not our role,” she
cy theories have left millions publican Donald Trump and and erode confidence in tion. said.
of Americans doubting the Democrat Kamala Harris. the U.S. electoral system. Beyond the influence cam- She encouraged voters who
validity of election results. The Biden administration Intelligence agencies and paigns, she said her agency question how elections are
Easterly said those efforts last month seized more tech companies have had not detected any ac- run to contact their local
are primarily aimed at sow- than two dozen Kremlin-run tracked both Russian and tivity targeting election sys- election office and even
ing discord among Ameri- fake websites and charged Iranian actors using fake tems. volunteer to serve as poll
cans and undermining two Russian state media websites and social media “We have not seen specific workers so they understand
faith in the security of the employees in a scheme to profiles to spread misinfor- cyber activity designed to the process and the safe-
nation’s elections. covertly fund right-wing in- mation, stoke division and interfere with actual elec- guards already in place.q

Five Chinese nationals charged with covering up midnight visit to

Michigan military site

By ED WHITE
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. authorities charged five Chinese nationals with lying and trying to
cover their tracks, more than a year after they were confronted in the dark near a re-
mote Michigan military site where thousands of people had gathered for summer drills.
The five, who were University of Michigan students at the time, were not charged for
what happened at Camp Grayling in August 2023. Rather they are accused of mislead-
ing investigators about the trip and conspiring to clear their phones of photos, accord-
ing to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
The FBI noted in the Tuesday court filing that there have been instances of college stu-
dents from China taking photos of vital defense sites in the United States.
There was nothing in the file revealing the whereabouts of the five men.
“The defendants are not in custody. Should they come into contact with U.S. authorities,
they will be arrested and face these charges,” Gina Balaya, a spokesperson for the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Detroit, said Wednesday.
In summer 2023, the five were confronted after midnight near a lake by a sergeant ma-
jor with the Utah National Guard. One said, “We are media,” before they collected their
belongings and agreed to leave the area, the FBI said. This photo shows an aerial view of Camp Grayling Joint
The FBI learned that the men had booked a room at a nearby motel a week before they Maneuver Training Center in Grayling, Mich., July 19, 2014.
were spotted outside Camp Grayling, 200 miles (321.8 kilometers) north of Detroit.q Associated Press