DOJ Launching Task Force On Election Cyberthreats

Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants a report by June on the best way for Department of Justice to confront the cybersecurity threats from terrorists, criminals and enemy governments, with efforts to interfere with elections a top priority. Top intelligence and law enforcement officials, including from the DOJ, told a congressional hearing panel recently that Russia will almost certainly try to interfere with the midterms, as they did the 2016 presidential elections, and that the country was not adequately prepared to combat the threat.

AG Sessions announced the creation of a Cyber-Digital Task Force comprising representatives of DOJ's Criminal Division, the National Security Division, the United States Attorney’s Office community, the Office of Legal Policy, the Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Chief Information Officer, the ATF, FBI, DEA, and the US Marshals Service. He said the priorities would be "study of efforts to interfere with our elections; efforts to interfere with our critical infrastructure; the use of the Internet to spread violent ideologies and to recruit followers; the mass theft of corporate, governmental, and private information; the use of technology to avoid or frustrate law enforcement; and the mass exploitation of computers and other digital devices to attack American citizens and businesses."