Nearly 100 Former National Security Officials Urge Congress To Take Urgent Action To Protect Elections

Nearly 100 former national security officials from both parties are warning that Congress must protect US elections as a national security issue.

The former national security officials who are led by Gen. Michael Hayden; former DNI James Clapper; DHS Secretaries Chertoff and Napolitano; DOD Secretary Cohen; John Bellinger III (legal advisor to NSC and DOS) wrote in an open letter:

We are former senior national security officials who have served Democrats, Republicans, or administrations of both parties. We write to express our alarm at ongoing efforts to destabilize and subvert our elections, both through active disinformation campaigns and the related efforts to inject partisan interference into our professionally administered election process.

We believe these efforts are profoundly damaging to our national security, including by making our elections more vulnerable to foreign interference and possible manipulation. We call on Congress to confront these threats and safeguard our democratic process as we look ahead to the 2022 elections and beyond.

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The officials are arguing that election security is not a partisan political issue. Election security is national security. The officials warned that the continued weakening of the US election system would make America more vulnerable to political violence and manipulation from hostile foreign actors.

Americans have already seen the damage that foreign election interference can cause during the 2016 election, and they have witnessed previously unimaginable political violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Democracy isn’t just free and fair elections. It is also a vital component of US national security, so when Republicans like Trump attack the election system, they are weakening America.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association