Find a way forward to protect American elections up next on point election security and national security to go through the resignation of the u.s. Director of National Intelligence 1st the news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying President Trump is nominating a fierce loyalist Texas Republican John Radcliffe to take over the job as director of National Intelligence d.n.i. Chief Dan Coats is resigning after a turbulent 2 years it often had him clashing with Trump over Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election N.P.R.'s Greg Myre reports on coats legacy it is this this sort of funny position we're overseeing 16 other intelligence agencies but I think one thing he did do was was shift the emphasis or was part of this community wide effort you know for almost 2 decades the focus has been on terror groups al Qaeda and Isis and coaches really stressed the traditional big state rivalry called them the Big 4 Russia China Iran North Korea and said the u.s. Should be placing more greater concentration on that the other thing was election security in fact in one of his last acts he appointed an election security czar somebody who will oversee or coordinate all the government efforts heading into the 2020 ballot Another day another tweet that has the president taking another verbal swing at House Oversight Committee chairman Eliza Cummings N.P.R.'s Frank or Donya reports on the escalating few that is now in its 3rd day President Trump ramped up his attacks over the weekend calling the Baltimore congressman a racist after coming under fire himself for tweets describing Cummings district as a rodent infested mess Cummings as a chair of the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Trump Trump's top aides are defending the president acknowledging the tweets may sound racist but that doesn't mean they are but Trump is not shying away he's now targeting Al Sharpton after the civil rights activists and talk show host tweeted that he was traveling to Baltimore Trump is calling Sharpton a con man and a troublemaker who quote hates whites and cops Franco or don't you as n.p.r. News Washington a Mississippi woman is now the subject of one of the most highly and. Dissipated medical experiments this country has seen in decades and P.R.'s Rob Stein has this exclusive volunteer is Victoria grey Forest Mississippi she has sickle cell disease a genetic disorder that causes agonizing pain and major medical problems it's horrible when you can't walk or you know this double spoon if he just Sills it's real hallway they experiment the treatment of the canyon road as traffic control in the area in Santa Barbara John Palminteri k c o u. Pro football has once again returned to the south coast Los Angeles may have the Rams and the Chargers but Ventura County has the Dallas Cowboys at least for the next 2 weeks the Cowboys arrived in the county over the weekend for their summer camp in Oxnard the team is once again working out at the River Ridge playing fields the workouts are open to the public and free to attend but there is a fee for parking the camp attracts Cowboy fans from around the country for a rare behind the scenes look at the team but cowboy workouts are at 330 in the afternoon most days but there are a few days where practice takes place at 10 45 in the morning the team will be inventor of county through August 14th and African elephants that spent a decade at the San Diego Zoo safari park has moved across the country to a new home at Zoo Atlanta 30 year old me Show Low and 2 female African elephants Kelly and Tara will be the main attractions at Zoo Atlanta as new African savannah habitat we show LHO was brought to the United States from Swansea land in 2003 checking some current temperatures 65 degrees in 1000 Oaks 61 in Ventura and 61 degrees in Santa Barbara it's 9 o 6 and you are listening to k.c.a.l. You Public Radio. Support for n.p.r. Comes from 5th generation incorporated maker of Tito's handmade vodka the founder Tito beverage discovered his passion by exploring what he loved to do and what he was good at 80 proof Tito's handmade vodka is distilled and bottled in Austin Texas . From n.p.r. And you are Boston I'm making a chopper Bertie and this is on point Robert Muller was consistent on one point during his congressional testimony last week Russian interference in u.s. Elections is one of the most serious threats to democracy he says he's seen in his long career Take this exchange with Texas Republican will heard before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday in your investigation that you think that this was a single attempt by the Russians to get involved in our election or did you find evidence to suggest they were trying to do this again. They're doing as we sit here and expect to do it. During the next campaign the very next day the Senate Intelligence Committee released a bipartisan report saying that Russia probably attempted to infiltrate election systems in all 50 states well last week to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked election security bills that made it out of committee with bipartisan support so a moment of potential bipartisanship is becoming partisan anyway as the 2020. This hour and point what is happening to election security legislation on Capitol Hill and you can join us where do you stand on this do you think Congress maybe asleep at the wheel in distracted by partisan battles the White House says they've done everything necessary to protect the ballot box across America do you agree and what more do we need to do if you think we need to do anything at all 180-423-8255 that's 80423 talk you can also join us any time at on point Radio dot org or Twitter and Facebook and on point radio well in a moment we'll hear from congressional Democrats though Loughlin of California and Republican Ronnie Davis of Illinois about their respective election security bills but 1st let's start with crooned emergency she joins us from Washington congressional reporter focusing on national security and she's been covering the story of election security and we have links to her reporting it on point Radio dot org Welcome to all. Point it to view So 1st of all let's start with the Senate Intelligence Committee report just a way the groundwork here for why these bills are so important is why it was what was revealed last week by the Senate Intelligence Committee so stunning about the all 50 states pretentiously having been infiltrated by the Russians well. The breadth of what they wrote was in many ways things that we had learned about along the course of watching this but to have the final stamp of the Senate Intelligence Committee is what made that significant is the only bipartisan pro-gun Capitol Hill to actually look into it and actually indoors to have their investigation endorse the extent of the Russian meddling the purpose for it the fact that it's probably going to be continuing all of those matters that says Ok it gives it the gravitas and the heft of a fact that cannot be easily disputed between the parties who seem to like to bicker over almost everything that is involved in your actual security question regarding the 26000 election because it has become so politically closely tied to the legitimacy of Trump's presidency so the report. Details both the extent of the operation the fact that it tapped all 50 states it also got into recommendations for how the what mistakes the federal government had made in terms of not communicating enough with enough urgency to the states that were actually running elections when they should be concerned issuing recommendations for what types of new equipment and news says safety protocols and procedures should be implemented for to guarantee that this doesn't happen in the future at least to safeguard against it and also recommendations the federal government to communicate what the consequences will be to any foreign actor that tries to interfere in elections because the presumption is that it's not just Russia that's going to be looking at this is an option in the future so we have this this report the 1st of several reports of the Intelligence Committee is going to put out we had what Muller said last week as well and then as mentioned while all this is going on a little earlier in the week some election security bills got blocked in the Senate so 1st of all current just tells the what's the sort of the biggest and most far reaching bill that Senator Mitch McConnell decided he did not want the Senate to take up well the senators with Democratic senators for the most part trying to do is get the these bills that would make various reporting requirements of how you're supposed to alert the authorities when there are in treaties made by foreign governments to interfere in elections also to try to get there should be standardized practices of exactly how you would. What types of machinery or tests equipment would be necessary for for basically establishing a standard of safe equipment the producing verifiable paper ballots and things like that and what has basically they happen is that. Just to be completely transparent about this the Congress did approve 380000000 dollars last year in grants for the states and they have approved these kinds of you know more pass surface level proposals to push back and say that is. Bad to be doing election interference but they haven't really dug in deeper than that 380000000 they haven't actually gone as far as saying this is exactly what you will do and this is exactly how you will report future instances and that's where the resistance seems to be coming in and that's created this standoff basically between Democrats like Mark Warner and any club which are who also want to pass legislation you know the honest ads act that would require disclosure of the money that goes towards. Disclosure the money that goes towards paying for online advertisements much like radio and t.v. Do you got advertisements but there's been pushback from the Republicans and especially from Mitch McConnell who has been arguing that basically Democrats are just trying to throw everything they possibly can of approach at that the problem without really thinking through what the effects might be and he's also defensive of the trumpet ministration and keep saying Look you'll notice that we're not freaking out about the $28000.00 election the way we were about 2016 that means Trump has been more responsible than the Obama administration and so let's just be patient about this of course Democrats are concerned that let's be patient about this means let's not do anything at all that's really draconian especially when you're in an environment where about a month ago I think it was the president told a.b.c. That yeah he might consider taking foreign assistance if it was offered in the future well current stand by here for just a 2nd because I want to turn now to Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren She joins us from San Jose California she represents California's 1000 $908.00 and she's chairperson of the Committee on House administration which has jurisdiction over elections she was also the author of the securing America's Federal Elections Act or better known as the Safe Act which did pass the House on partisan lines in June so Congresswoman Lofgren welcome to on point thank you hello so so 1st of all start by telling us what you give me start by telling us what you hope the se fact would accomplish if it was made into law. Well it's really simple actually most of the provisions in the bill mirror recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences requires states to use voter verified paper ballot voting systems it requires cyber and risk mitigation training maintenance of election infrastructure and hand cybersecurity voter registration systems that requires risk limiting audit which is the gold standard the best practice to to ensure the integrity of elections and to confirm how comes it requires accountability for election technology vendors and set cyber cute security standards and limits it does provide for a grants a $600000000.00 that has already been appropriated in the House bill would be provided in grants to implement these requirements as you've mentioned earlier last year 3CW3C8XW dollars which was. Authorized years and years ago pursuant to the Help America Help America Vote Act was appropriated and the experts have testified to us that to fully harden our systems would take about a $1000000000.00 So with this authorization we would get to that number who really are the I'm going to be if I may just just jump in here briefly for a moment and forgive me but but what's your response to the concern that Republican members of the House and the Senate as well say when they say that they believe the say fact you mention standards that it would it would it would. The standards that it would put out there for election security that essentially takes power away from states and from local entities that have historically been the arbiters of how elections are run in this country that they see it as a perhaps a creeping nationalization of elections. Well it really reflects the state of threat that exists that we've heard from our intelligence community and our law enforcement community essentially for the hackers that we know about Russia there may be others are attacking our country cyber attacks and we think that an attack on the nation needs a national response we wouldn't ask the registrar of voters in Santa Clara County to respond to a missile attack by themselves this is not that dissimilar we need to harden our systems and understand that this is one of the most important things that we do they have elections make sure that every American citizen who votes has their vote counted as cast and that the will of the peoples reflected in our government not threatened by foreign actors so given that this has passed the House but has is facing stiff offas opposition in the Senate how do you see any way forward to get around the concerns of your Republican counterparts. I don't fully understand it I mean we I am working on a bill an anti propaganda bill that you know we have the honest ad act that they also objected to I you know I don't want to speak for the Republicans but it looks like Mitch McConnell is just Mr know he ought to listen to the intelligence community that is laying out these threat and letting us know that you know they're serious we know now for example that a majority of the voting systems in the United States are operating on Windows 7 and that's not even have security patches when the election is held the equipment is vulnerable. Not only the equipment but the voting rolls and we ought to do that we have a responsibility to do something to protect ourselves Well Representative Zoe Lofgren Democratic congresswoman from California 1000 congressional district in chairperson of the Committee on House administration and author of the securing America's Federal Elections Act or the Safe Act Representative Lofgren thank you so much for joining us today thank you Karen demerge and we just have about a car and I should say I'm so sorry for your name guy we just got about 30 seconds here before a break just your quick response to what Representative Lofgren there is saying about she doesn't understand why a Republican counterparts aren't getting on board with this a fact I think that what her comments illustrate is that the tension between Democrats and Republicans which is playing out legislative tension between the House and Senate this is what happens you've got a divided Congress about critical issues of course this one hits home because we're looking down the pike at an election season again and people are worried ever piece about her a piece of what happened in 2610 well we come back we will hear from Republican congressman about his ideas for election security where at 180-423-8255 that's 843 talk will be back this is on point. 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This is on point and Magna Charta Barty we're talking about election security bills that are pending in Congress right now and what's preventing them from moving forward and what we need to do legislatively if anything to secure America's elections were 180-423-8255 it's 80423 talk I'm joined today by car and demerge and she's a congressional reporter focusing on national security and she joins us from Washington and joining us now from Collinsville Illinois is Rodney Davis he's a Republican congressman from Illinois 13th District which includes Bloomington and Springfield He's also the ranking member on the committee on House administration he voted against Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren say fact we heard from Representative Lofgren just a couple of minutes ago but Representative Davis has his own proposed proposals for election security and again joins us now Representative Davis welcome to you as well thank you for having me on I really appreciate it if I could know like my thoughts prayers and our condolences to so. Chairperson of our committee on the tragedy that happened in our district yesterday Thank you know I. Appreciate that very much actually Representative Davis and thank you for remembering that let me turn to the issue of election security here now what is it about Representative Lofgren say fact that you didn't think he. Deserved your support why did you vote against it. Well I debated this issue number one sitting down with the majority. Chairperson Loughlin staff and by staff or king out what we thought was going to get to a bipartisan bill and they have probably walked away from the table told me that there was going to be a top down approach from the majority and unfortunately the bill that was put before us was that building that didn't address the concerns that were raised by them over report it didn't address concerns raised are raised by our intelligence communities and and it really wasn't the best approach our bill we believe was a good continuing step to what we're already doing in Congress to work to ensure that we have same collections like we did in 2018 so the tell me more though about why it seemed You've been quoted elsewhere as saying that you think that the safe asked why was taking power away from state and local jurisdictions and how they run elections why do you say that. I say that because I sat down with the election authorities of my district all Republicans like me and Democrats who all they want to do is make sure that every o