Election industry representatives recently met with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and representatives from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in Arlington, Virginia, to launch the formation an industry-led Sector Coordinating Council (SCC).
The council will support critical infrastructure owners and operators in sharing information and working together with DHS on various strategies, policies, and activities.
“The integrity of our electoral process is a vital national interest, and we are facing an environment in which threats to this process are continuously evolving,” David Wulf, acting deputy assistant secretary for the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection, said. “No one entity – whether private or public – can manage the risk to our critical election infrastructure on its own. The SCC framework provides a well-tested mechanism for sharing threat information between the Federal government and council partners, advancing risk-management efforts, and providing federal agencies with insight into the security landscape faced by industry.”
In October, DHS and EAC met with state and local election officials to create the Government Coordinating Council (GCC) for the Election Infrastructure Subsector, the public-sector counterpart to the SCC.
DHS anticipates that the formation of the SCC will be finalized in 2018.
“The coordination and discussions taking place among local, state, and federal election officials is encouraging and necessary to help all levels better secure their election systems,” Ricky Hatch, the election officials division director at the International Association of Government Officials, said. “The industries that provide elections equipment and systems should also be part of the solution. The formation of an SCC is a good step towards establishing a framework for effective coordination.”