DO MORE, PLEASE — Senate Intel Committee chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) is pressing CISA to up its election security game, firing off a letter to Director Jen Easterly with a wish list of enhancements. — The ask: Warner wants CISA to boost support for state and local governments in combating disinformation, ramp up information sharing and work with election officials to tackle emerging AI-powered threats. The senator specifically points to growing foreign disinformation campaigns and AI-powered threats as key concerns. “I strongly urge you to use all the tools at your disposal to provide state and local administrators with the necessary resources to uncover, build resilience against, and rapidly respond to information manipulation campaigns leading up to the election and afterwards,” Warner wrote. — Why this is important: CISA is tasked with helping protect the nation’s election infrastructure against cyber and physical threats and supports state and local officials that have jurisdiction over elections on this. Agency officials have made repeated statements and media appearances in recent weeks to get the message out that the election process is secure, even in the middle of increasing threats. That’s so far included hacking operations by Iran against U.S. presidential campaigns and Russian efforts to spread disinformation around the election. — Radio silence: CISA's keeping mum for now on Warner’s letter, with spokesperson Scott McConnell declining to comment. STAY ALERT — Warner was among the several lawmakers who reacted to the Justice Department’s indictment on Friday of three Iranian individuals for allegedly carrying out hack and leak operations against Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The indictment accused Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yaser Balaghi — all employees of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — of targeting and hacking into the personal email accounts of employees for an unnamed presidential campaign, then subsequently sending that stolen information to media outlets and officials with a different presidential campaign. While the indictment did not name the campaigns, the FBI and other agencies announced last week that Iranian hackers sent information from the Trump campaign to the personal emails of staffers on President Joe Biden’s campaign, which has since disbanded. — Questions, concerns: Warner said in a statement that the indictment “once again underscores the extent to which adversaries like Iran are actively seeking to influence the outcome of our elections using a wide range of tools,” praising the U.S. intelligence community’s efforts to guard against these types of attacks. House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said in a separate statement that “through hacking campaigns and plotting assassinations, Iran’s clear objective is to target former President Trump and interfere in the U.S. election.” He criticized the Biden administration for “failing to respond to Iran.” “President [Joe] Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris must immediately and forcefully push back against Iran to protect former President Trump and ensure the integrity of our upcoming election,” Turner said. DRONE DILEMMA — House China Committee leaders are urging Fairfax County, Virginia, to ground its Chinese-made drones, citing risks to national security. They’re also calling on the county to be a test case for the rest of the nation. — The players: Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair and ranking member of the Select Committee on China, are targeting drones from DJI and Autel Robotics, two Chinese manufacturers who dominate the global market. — The stakes: The lawmakers say Fairfax County's drone fleet — used for public safety and emergency services — sits uncomfortably close to sensitive national security sites. CISA and FBI unveiled guidance in January that data collected by these drones could be accessed by Beijing under China's 2017 National Intelligence Law. That guidance also warns that Chinese drones could expose everything from intellectual property to critical infrastructure vulnerabilities. — New tactics: The letter warns of "white-labeling," where Chinese firms partner with other companies to sell drones under different brand names — a move that could sidestep scrutiny and fly under the regulatory radar. — Elephant in the room: DJI drones make up the vast majority of the global market, not because of lax security standards but often because Chinese drones win on price due to PRC government subsidies. Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi hint at adjusting federal grant programs to help local governments opt for pricier but "more secure" alternatives, particularly FEMA’s Urban Area Security Initiative. “We cannot continue to allow unfair CCP market practices to pressure our state and local governments and put them at risk,” they write. “We urge Fairfax County to ensure PRC drones are excluded from procurement and partner programs in the future and assist other counties and the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
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