DHS, partners convene for government council on protecting election infrastructure

Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently convened with representatives from state and federal agencies for the first Government Coordinating Council (GCC) for the Election Infrastructure Subsector.

Joining DHS were representatives from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and a variety of state and federal election officials to help the department build trusted relationships with individual states and locales in order to keep the nation’s election systems secure from cyberattacks.

DHS officially designated state election systems as critical infrastructure in January after a number of reports indicated possible cyber intrusions throughout the 2016 presidential election cycle.

The designation did not officially create any new regulations or mandates. However, it enabled the department to prioritize cybersecurity assistance to state and local election officials who request it and ensured that election infrastructure has access to protections from the U.S. federal government.

According to DHS, the 27-member council’s framework provides a well-tested mechanism for sharing threat information between the federal government and council partners, advancing risk management efforts, and prioritizing focus of services available to sector partners in a trusted environment.

“Today’s council meeting shows the seriousness with which federal, state and local officials take the threats to election infrastructure, and the level of cooperation taking place to address it,” Bob Kolasky, acting deputy undersecretary of the DHS National Protections and Programs Directorate, said.

Established under DHS’s authority to provide a means for the private sector and the government to engage in discussions to support critical infrastructure security, the GCC structure is used in each of the critical infrastructure sectors established under Presidential Policy Directive 21 on critical infrastructure security and resilience.