Technology and Government Affairs will come to order. I recognize myself for five minutes for my Opening Statement. Good afternoon. Thanks for being here, and its been over 240 years since our forefathers declared independence and a democratic experiment began. Throughout the entirety of our existence our adversaries both internal and external have sought to suppress. Our existence as a democracy depends on free, fair and accurate elections. Today were here to talk about the best way to protect our integrity of our Voting Systems. There are over 10,000 election jurisdictions nation widethat administer elections. And even within states counties use different systems to conduct elections. A year ago last september Ranking Member kelly and i held a hearing ensuring the integrity of the ballot box to discuss potential issues with the up coming election. It was an issue then and remains an issue now. The former secretary has made clear to the best of his knowledge the russians did not alter ballots, however our adversaries have always sought to use our unique qualities to undermine our democracy. Just because they didnt tamper with results during the last election, it doesnt mean they and other adversaries wont try to do so in the next election. Our Voting Systems are no exception. This past january dhs designated the nations election systems as Critical Infrastructure, something that was being discussed back in a hearing in 2016. Its essential that states take appropriate steps to secure their voting structure. Also essential states have the ability to alter their voting structure. Im curious to hear additionally what are the chances a foreign entity could tamper with our ballot box, these are all questions and answers id like to hear today. I thank our witnesses for being here today and for their efforts to ensure our country remains free and fair. Thank you, mr. Chair. Welcome back. I hope you had a good thanksgiving. Thank you for holding this important hearing today. There is no doubt that russia at the direction of president Vladimir Putin attempted to manipulate our elections and has worked to manipulate those of our western allies. Tist a broad and coordinated campaign to undermine faith and democratic election. Today we are taking a look at another part of their effort to undermine our democracy by hacking our Voting Machines and election infrastructure. More than one year ago we held a hearing entitled cybersecurity to ensure the integrity of the ballot box. We took a look at state and local integrity of our ballot machines. Noted 21 states that hackers attempted to breach their infrastructure. In my own state of illinois the hackers attempted to breach data. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful. While we continue to learn the full scope of russias election interfeerps, one thing is clear, there will be another attempt to manipulate our elections. Whether it be russia, another nation state or nonstate actoro even a terrorist organization, the threats to our election infrastructure are growing. So what are week go to do about it . Earlier this year the researchers at def con were successfully able to hack machines in a day. It contained physical vulnerabilities like usb ports that can be used to up load malware. Despite these flaws dres are still commonly used. In 2016 42 states used them. Some running Outdated Software no longer supported by the manufacture. Updating our machines to paper based machines such as optical scanners is a step we need to take right now. Our election infrastructure is broad and contain numerous vulnerabilities. If we were going to withstand a coordinated attack, we need a coordinated defense. In january of this year dhs designated election infrastructure as Critical Infrastructure. In this announcement then dhs secretary jeb johnson was clear this designation was not going to be a federal take over of state and local infrastructure. Rather it was a designation intended to ensure the current state resources necessary to secure their elections. Since then the former secretary and now white house chief of staff john kelly has supported this designation. If designation is be successful, we will all have to Work Together, dhs and our state Election Officials must do a better job of working together to detect and solve problems. Again, i want to thank you, mr. Chairman, for holding this crucial hearing. Thank you to our witnesses for being here. I look forward to hearing from all of you about how we can continue protecting our democracy. Yield back. Always a pleasure to be with you representative, kelly. Id like to thank our friend, chairman palmer, for cooperation and work on this important issue. Now its a pleasure to recognize the Ranking Member of the Intergovernmental Affairs committee for five minutes in her opening remarks. Thank you so much chairman herd, and chairman palmer for convening this hearing today. Id also like to thank Ranking Member kelly for her leadership and all of our witnesses for joining us for this very important hearing. Im pleased were holding this hearing so essential to democracy. While there are so many issues that divide us, inintegrity of the voting process should not be in question. Regardless of race, gender, sexual identity, zip code, income, every vote should count. Every vote should count the same. I believe that voting is the last true equalizer. However, russias interference in the 2016 election and intrusions in at least 21 states Voter Registration date abases indisputable and confirmed by intelligence has not kept pace with the current and emerging threats from nations, organizations or even a single individual determined to undermine our democracy. Recently i joined the Congressional Task force on Election Security. Just as we keep our homeland safe from physical harm, so too must we harden from cyber attacks. Their message is clear. We must act now to protect our Voting Systems. In over 40 states elections are carried out using Voting Machines and Voter Registration databases created more than a decade ago. These technologies are more likely to suffer from known vulnerabilities that cannot be patched easily if at all. As we saw from the voting bill setup at this years hacking conference, even hackers with limited prior knowledge, tools and resources are able to breach Voting Machines in a matter of minutes. We should not assume that state Voting Machines are secure enough to withstand a state sponsored cyberattack. And there is no reason to believe that these attacks will subside. Congress must do its part. Yes, we must. And help states fund and maintain secure election systems. This means funding to purchase new secure election systems and voter machines, help and established certified baseline cyberSecurity Standards for those states that service them. Our democratic process relies on voters faith that their vote does count. Election security is national security, and our election infrastructure is Critical Infrastructure. With just under a year until the 2018 midterm elections, it is criticate that we understand the vulnerabilities of the past and secure our networks for the future. I thank our witnesses again for sharing their testimony today, and i look forward to this very important discussion. Thank you so much. With that i yield back. Thank you, Ranking Member. Now im pleased to introduce our witnesses. First and foremost, the honorable Christopher Krebs at the u. S. Department of Homeland Security. We have the honorable tom shedler, secretary of state for louisiana. Thank you for coming up here today. Commissioner cortez, the commissioner of the Virginia Department of elections. So thank you for being here. Dr. Matthew blaze, associate professor of commuter science at the university of pennsylvania. And ms. Susan cline at the brookings institute. Welcome to you all. All witnesses will be sworn in before you testify. So please rise and raise your right hand. Do you solenly swear or affirm the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Thank you. Let the record reflect that all witnesses answered in the affirmative. In order to allow time for discussion, please limit your testimony to four minutes. Your entire written statement will be made part of the record. And i appreciate yalls written statements, especially all of yall had outlined a number of Interesting Solutions to these problems as well as articulating the concerns that we have. So folks that are interested in this topic, many all of these written statements is valuable in understanding the state of where we are. As a reminder also the clock in front of you shows your remaining time. The light will turn yellow when you have 30 seconds left. And when it starts flashing red, that means your time is up. So please also remember to push the button, to turn your mike tone on before speaking, and wed like to start with mr. Krebs. You are now recognized for five minutes 4 minutes, excuse me. Chairman herd, chairman palm, Ranking Member kelly, Ranking Member demings, members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss Homeland Securitys ongoing efforts to enhance secure election. In 2016 the u. S. Saw operations cleareyed the threats to our election systems remain an ongoing concern. The organizations i lead, the National Protections programs director at the department of security is leading an effort to provide voluntary assistance to state and local officials. This brings together the fbi, the intelligence commit community, nist, and other dhs sectors. State and local officials have already been working individually and collectively to reduce risks and ensure the integrity of their elections. As threat actors become increasingly sophisticated, dhs stands up in partnership to offer assistance. They offer three types of assistance. Dhs typically offers two kinds of assessments to state ask local officials. The first provides a recurring report identifying vulnerabilities in internet connected systems and mitigation recommendations. Sek second, our Security Experts can go on site. These assessments are more thorough allowing the testing. As we continue to understand the requirements from our stakeholders, well refine and diversify these voluntary offerings. Dhs continues to share actionable resignation. We share cyber threat indicators and other analysis our Network Defenders can use to secure their systems. One works with a multistate and Information Sharing Analysis Center to provide threat and vulnerability information to state and local officials. They may also receive information directly from the inkick. Notably were offering security to selected Election Officials and also providing cleanerance to other state officials. In our third category the dhs helps to identify possible incidents. It shares anonmized information with other states to assist their ability to defend their own systems in a collective defense approach. It is important to note these relationships are built and sustained on trust. Breaking that trust will have far ranging consequences in our ability to collaboratively counter this growing threat. We have established a government coordinating council. We have similarly working to formalize partnerships with a sector coordinating counsel. Within this environment of sharing critical information, Risk Management and other vital information, dhs is leading efforts to support enhanced security across the nation. Securing the nations systems is complex challenge and shared responsibility. There is no one size fits all solution. In conversations with elected officials over the last year, in working with the eoc, nist, youll hear institutions already do great work. But they provide a challenge, as we work correctively to address these and other challenges we will work to support our state and local partners. Thank you for this opportunity to testify and i look forward to any questions. Thank you, mr. Krebs. And secretary, i want to thank you again for being flexible. Your perspective and experience on this topic is important. And thank you for being here. And sir, youre now recognized for four minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman and for the opportunity to participate today. Its important to hear the perspective of those who oversee across the country. Past, present and in the National Association of state on nast. Securing elections in november 18 and beyond is critical and important to all of us in our nations secretary of state. We are not naive to the likelihood of future cyberattacks. But we also know the use of paper ballots can just as easily open up vulnerabilities. First id like to share with you the important developments taking place through nast Election Cybersecurity Task force which was established earlier this career. In addition to helping states share information and combat Cyber Threats a task force assisted with creating partnerships including with the u. S. Department of Homeland Security and u. S. Election commission as well. Its been a key component of the council. Its designated or designed to facilitate, improve communications that as you know did not go well in 2016. Our members were concerned about the possibility of federal overreach and because the designation came without meaningful constellitation without any elected officials. My colleagues and i understood we could continue to get the same support and services from dhs without critical designation. So it seemed unnecessary. However, the designation is still with us today. Part of that work includes chief Election Officials obtaining security clearances. We have often been told by dhs they cant share information because it is classified. Hopefully these new clearances will address this problem. Ensh ensuring the integrity of the election process is important to every officer including myself. In West Virginia secretary mack warner has added an Air National Guard cybersecurity specialist to his staff. Jim condo solicited the Third Party Risk data systems in 2015 that led to his office to build a new firewall and begin regular penetration testing. Colorado secretary wains Williams Office provides software for colleagues to install on their computers squoo detect malware functions. In louisiana our hurricane season, we have one of those states for sure that are very expert in that field. Remember with the passage of the help america vote act in 2002 states were required to purchase at least one piece of accessible polling equipment for each polling place. They began updating the existing Voting System with guidelines to address the new system such as dres. Last month the eac released their latest update. The guidelines are set for manufacturing specifics at are certain standards of functionality, autoability and security capabilities. And final approval is expected in the spring of 2018. In louisiana we take pride and go way beyond any current standards with our Voting Machines. The state purchases warehouses of every voting machine in the state. We test each and every before and after elections. Once the machines are tested, a tamperproof seal is placed on them to protect against any intrusion. In louisiana because no one touches our Voting Machines except our staff, because theyre never sent out to manufacture for repair, they are not handled by individuals or companies who program Voting Machines because theyre tightly controlled by our office, we have the utmost confidence in the system. We do need to prepare, yes. We do need to continue to update our procedures and processes, yes. We are currently looking for a better practices that we can solicit for various entities and groups. And most of all were looking for the remaining 396 million that have never been appropriated to help us replace aging equipment purchased over ten years ago. Ill certainly be able for any questions. And let the record reflect youre prepared to come testify. Sir, youre now recognized for four minutes. Im the commissioner of elections in virginia, and this role i serve as the chief election official for the commonwealth and lead the Virginia Department of elections. Virginia has 133 local election jurisdictions and over 5 million active registered voters. Today im going to focus on the recommendations that are pr provided in there. And reduce the administrate chb workload for elected officials while increasing accountability in our processes. One aspect of these wide ranging efforts has been to strengthen the security of virginias voting equipment including the votish machines and electronic poll books. When i became commissioner in 2014 approximately 113 of virginias 133 localities used paperless dres. Im happy to say that all virginians voted using a paper based system. Virginia has