{"id":2344008,"date":"2024-09-20T15:34:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T19:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idaho-sos-partners-with-cisa-in-the-name-of-election-security\/"},"modified":"2024-09-20T15:37:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T19:37:05","slug":"idaho-sos-partners-with-cisa-in-the-name-of-election-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idaho-sos-partners-with-cisa-in-the-name-of-election-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho SOS Partners With CISA In The Name Of &#8216;Election Security&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fidaho-sos-partners-with-cisa-in-the-name-of-election-security%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2344008&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, a Republican,\u2062 is collaborating with the\u200b Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency\u200b (CISA) to discuss election security concerns. During a recent\u2063 press conference in Boise with CISA director Jen Easterly, McGrane expressed gratitude for the agency&#8217;s support, emphasizing its importance for rural communities\u200b lacking cybersecurity resources. CISA, established in 2018, aims to protect critical infrastructure, including election systems. However, it has faced \u200bcriticism for \u2063its supposed role in censoring information \u200ddeemed &#8220;disinformation&#8221; in collaboration\u200b with big tech companies.<\/p>\n<p>A report from the House Judiciary Committee highlighted that CISA expanded its focus from exclusively countering foreign threats to also addressing domestic misinformation. Amidst concerns regarding its history of election meddling, the agency and McGrane remained positive about their partnership. Easterly raised the\u2064 issue of foreign interference in elections, insisting on the need\u200b for collaboration to protect the integrity of the electoral process. Despite claims that CISA does not censor free speech, \u2062questions persist about the agency\u2019s oversight and its impact on public discourse.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, a Republican, is partnering with the federal censorship office Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to talk about &ldquo;election security.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>McGrane held a press <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahocountyfreepress.com\/news\/state\/foreign-interference-is-the-focus-in-joint-address-on-election-security\/article_1fd02cdd-7730-562c-9f95-48ee8aba2de9.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conference<\/a> on Wednesday with CISA director Jen Easterly in the Idaho state capital, after which the Idaho Republican said he was &ldquo;grateful for the partnership&rdquo; in a post on X.<\/p>\n<p>CISA is America&rsquo;s newest federal agency, <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/cisa-staff-report6-26-23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">established<\/a> in 2018 in part to protect the American electrical grid and &ldquo;critical infrastructure&rdquo; from &ldquo;cybersecurity threats.&rdquo; In 2017, this included election infrastructure, which then-outgoing DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson designated as a &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cisa-censors-work-with-private-groups-to-target-election-misinfo\/\" title=\"CISA Censors Work With Private Groups To Target Election &#039;Misinfo&#039;\">critical infrastructure subsector<\/a>,&rdquo; as noted in a 2023 federal report. The agency has also been <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/05\/why-cisas-censorship-and-election-interference-work-is-the-most-insidious-attack-on-american-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">working with Big Tech<\/a> to silence Americans&rsquo; speech and put its thumb on the scale of elections.<\/p>\n<p>The agency is behind the massive push to censor what state-power oligarchs deem to be &ldquo;disinformation.&rdquo; West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/05\/why-cisas-censorship-and-election-interference-work-is-the-most-insidious-attack-on-american-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> my colleague M.D. Kittle earlier this year that the &ldquo;disinformation&rdquo; narrative is a &ldquo;psychological operation against the American people&rdquo; that is &ldquo;as bad as it gets.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, McGrane seemed to heap praise on CISA.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As Idaho&rsquo;s Secretary of State, I am dedicated to protecting our elections and ensuring that every vote counts,&rdquo; he reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/localnews8.com\/news\/2024\/09\/18\/secretary-of-state-and-cisa-director-meet-in-boise-to-discuss-idaho-election-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> in a Sept. 16 press release. &ldquo;The support we receive from CISA is invaluable, especially for our rural communities that often lack funding and resources when it comes to cybersecurity. Federal support and expertise help us provide consistent and robust security measures that protect our elections and build trust in the process.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/cisa-staff-report6-26-23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> last summer detailing how CISA &ldquo;colluded with big tech and &lsquo;disinformation&rsquo; partners to censor Americans.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;CISA was originally intended to be an ancillary agency designed to protect &lsquo;critical infrastructure&rsquo; and guard against cybersecurity threats,&rdquo; the report states. &ldquo;In the years since its creation, however, CISA metastasized into the nerve center of the federal government&rsquo;s domestic surveillance and censorship operations on social media.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As detailed in the report, &ldquo;following the unfounded&rdquo; Democrat claims of foreign election interference, &ldquo;particularly&rdquo; that the Russians &ldquo;changed the outcome of the 2016 election, CISA expanded its &lsquo;cybersecurity&rsquo; role to include countering foreign malign influence operations.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, &ldquo;[i]n January 2021, after President Biden took office, &lsquo;CISA transitioned its [&ldquo;Countering Foreign Influence Task Force&rdquo;] to promote more flexibility to focus on general MDM,&rsquo; or so-called &ldquo;Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation,&rsquo;&rdquo; the report states. &ldquo;In so doing, CISA admitted that its focus was no longer exclusively on &lsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-cia-director-told-congress-he-terminated-a-relationship-with-a-ccp-influence-group-new-evidence-suggests-this-was-a-lie\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s CIA Director Told Congress He Terminated a Relationship With a CCP Influence Group \u2013 New Evidence Suggests This Was a Lie\">countering foreign influence<\/a>,&rsquo; but was also targeting MDM originating from domestic sources.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Easterly brought up the prospect of foreign interference at the press conference, saying our &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bPWbVpeJvBI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">foreign adversaries<\/a>&rdquo; are intent upon &ldquo;undermining American confidence in the security of our elections&rdquo; and &ldquo;trying to stoke partisan rancor,&rdquo; the Idaho County Free Press <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahocountyfreepress.com\/news\/state\/foreign-interference-is-the-focus-in-joint-address-on-election-security\/article_1fd02cdd-7730-562c-9f95-48ee8aba2de9.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear if McGrane raised any concerns about CISA&rsquo;s history of reported election meddling and censorship efforts during the press conference, as no full recording was provided by his office. But Easterly did say &ldquo;[t]he partnership that we have here in Idaho with Secretary McGrane and the entire security team has just been a model, and frankly, a model for election security,&rdquo; according to the Idaho County Free Press.<\/p>\n<p>Easterly also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bPWbVpeJvBI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mentioned<\/a> &ldquo;all of [her] travels across the country, sitting down with state and local election officials&rdquo; in a clip from the presser, and suggested these discussions involve &ldquo;understanding what &hellip; CISA can bring to them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While &ldquo;[d]omestic voices have a right to speak about their concerns,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;influential figures who have large communications platforms &hellip; need[] to be very mindful of not doing our foreign adversaries job for them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;[I]t&rsquo;s really important that all of us work together to prevent our foreign adversaries who we know are a very real threat &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s Iran, whether it&rsquo;s Russia &mdash; we don&rsquo;t want Americans to be duped into being a mouthpiece for our foreign adversaries,&rdquo; she continued. <\/p>\n<p>When asked about Easterly&rsquo;s comments and whether &ldquo;CISA once again plan[s] to try to censor what it claims is &ldquo;mis-&rdquo; or &ldquo;dis-&rdquo; or &lsquo;malinformation&rsquo; on the state and local scale,&rdquo; a spokesman for the agency told The Federalist that &ldquo;[t]he premise of [such a] question is mistaken,&rdquo; as&nbsp;&ldquo;CISA does not censor free speech.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>When asking McGrane&rsquo;s office about its partnership with CISA, given the agency&rsquo;s history, a spokeswoman claimed McGrane &ldquo;has led the effort to stop the disinformation reporting efforts and coordination with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ga-poll-watcher-it-expert-non-trump-supporter-affidavit-sudden-surge-of-20000-mail-in-votes-for-biden-in-early-hours-on-nov\/\" title=\"GA Poll Watcher, IT Expert, Non-Trump Supporter Affidavit: Sudden Surge of 20,000 Mail-In-Votes For Biden In Early Hours On Nov\">social media companies<\/a>,&rdquo; and that the secretary &ldquo;has made it a point to ensure the focus of CISA in elections is on these efforts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;While the prior programs targeting disinformation were out of line with this mission, it has not stopped highly skilled foreign actors from attempting to tamper and interfere with our elections,&rdquo; the statement given to The Federalist on Thursday continued. &ldquo;Our coordination with CISA is to protect the security and resilience of our election&nbsp;infrastructure from these attacks. Secretary McGrane believes strongly that the integrity and security of our elections are worth protecting,&nbsp;and this can only be achieved by working together.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, a fellow Republican, also met with Easterly to develop a &ldquo;partnership&rdquo; with CISA. While initially speaking positively, Morales eventually&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/11\/indiana-elections-chief-threatens-bidenbucks-agencies-walks-back-cisa-partnership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">distanced<\/a>&nbsp;himself from the censorship agency in a conversation with The Federalist. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist has <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/05\/why-cisas-censorship-and-election-interference-work-is-the-most-insidious-attack-on-american-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, CISA graduated from a mission to &ldquo;protect &lsquo;critical infrastructure&rsquo; and guard against cybersecurity threats&rdquo; to, by 2020, &ldquo;routinely&rdquo; targeting what CISA officials claimed to be &ldquo;disinformation&rdquo; on social media, ramping up in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>CISA was deeply <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/22\/why-is-indianas-secretary-of-state-partnering-with-nerve-center-of-federal-censorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">involved<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/covid-reset-the-day-of-reckoning-is-coming\/\" title=\"COVID Reset: The Day of Reckoning Is Coming\">directing social media companies<\/a> to remove information involving, for example, questions about the administration of the 2020 election or the efficacy of the mandates and measures put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic, as The Federalist has previously reported.<\/p>\n<p>CISA is a subagency of the Department of Homeland Security, which also established the &ldquo;Disinformation Governance Board&rdquo; to &ldquo;streamline the work of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/09\/the-biden-administrations-new-disinformation-board-is-a-tool-straight-from-soviet-russias-kgb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">colluding<\/a>&nbsp;with social media providers to shut down speech the government didn&rsquo;t like or found inconvenient,&rdquo; as The Federalist previously reported. However, this board <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2022\/08\/24\/following-hsac-recommendation-dhs-terminates-disinformation-governance-board\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quickly dissolved<\/a> after significant public backlash.<\/p>\n<p><em>For more election news and updates, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted\/\" title=\"PA Court Rules Improperly Dated Mail Ballots Must Be Counted\">previously covered education<\/a> and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, a Republican, is collaborating with the federal agency Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to discuss &#8220;election security.&#8221; Following a press conference on Wednesday in Idaho&#8217;s state capital with CISA director Jen Easterly, McGrane expressed his appreciation for the partnership in a post on X. Established in 2018, CISA aims to safeguard the American electrical grid and &#8220;critical infrastructure&#8221; from cybersecurity threats. In 2017, election infrastructure was classified as a &#8220;critical infrastructure subsector&#8221; by then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, according to a federal report from 2023. The agency has also been involved with major tech companies to regulate speech and influence elections.<\/p>\n<p>CISA has been at the forefront of efforts to censor what government officials label as &#8220;disinformation.&#8221; West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner previously described this narrative as a \u201cpsychological operation against the American people.\u201d Despite this context, McGrane praised CISA&#8217;s support for Idaho\u2019s elections during an announcement on September 16. He emphasized that their assistance is crucial for rural communities lacking resources for cybersecurity.<\/p>\n<p>A report released last summer by the House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of Federal Government highlighted how CISA allegedly collaborated with big tech firms and partners labeled as \u201cdisinformation\u201d entities to suppress American voices. Initially intended as an agency focused solely on protecting critical infrastructure from cyber threats, CISA has reportedly evolved into a central player in domestic surveillance and censorship operations online.<\/p>\n<p>The report noted that following unsubstantiated claims by Democrats regarding foreign interference in elections\u2014particularly allegations that Russia influenced the outcome of the 2016 election\u2014CISA broadened its role beyond just cybersecurity to include countering foreign influence operations. By January 2021 under President Biden\u2019s administration, it shifted its focus towards addressing domestic misinformation alongside foreign threats.<\/p>\n<p>During the press conference, Easterly mentioned concerns about foreign adversaries attempting to undermine confidence in U.S. elections while trying to incite political division among Americans. It remains unclear if McGrane addressed any issues related to CISA&#8217;s past actions regarding election interference during their discussion since no complete recording was made available by his office; however, Easterly commended their collaboration as exemplary for election security.<\/p>\n<p>Easterly also referenced her engagements across various states with local election officials aimed at understanding how CISA can assist them while stressing that influential figures should be cautious not to inadvertently aid foreign adversaries through their platforms.<\/p>\n<p>When questioned about potential future censorship efforts targeting so-called misinformation at state or local levels based on Easterly\u2019s comments, a spokesperson for CISA stated that such assumptions were incorrect since they do not engage in censoring free speech. In response to inquiries about McGrane&#8217;s partnership with CISA given its controversial history, his office asserted he has worked actively against disinformation reporting initiatives linked with social media companies while focusing instead on securing electoral integrity against external threats.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales also sought collaboration with Easterly but later distanced himself from such associations after expressing initial support. Reports indicate that over time CISA transitioned from merely protecting critical infrastructure against cyber risks toward routinely targeting alleged disinformation online starting around 2020\u2014a shift marked by significant involvement directing social media platforms regarding content related both to electoral processes and public health measures during COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>As part of DHS oversight which includes agencies like CISA\u2014previously known for establishing initiatives like the now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board aimed at coordinating suppression efforts\u2014the agency continues navigating complex dynamics surrounding information control amid ongoing debates over free speech rights within democratic frameworks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2344009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Screenshot-2024-09-20-at-3.12.04%E2%80%AFPM-e1726859621900.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20658,33087,34382,6318,9342],"class_list":["post-2344008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-sos","tag-cisa","tag-election-security","tag-idaho","tag-partnership"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Screenshot-2024-09-20-at-3.12.04%E2%80%AFPM-e1726859621900.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2344009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}