After Senate Intelligence Committee Releases Third Volume of Bipartisan Russia Report, Harris Renews Call for Election Security Measures Before Ahead of November

Statement

U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) on Thursday released the following statement after the Senate Intelligence Committee released the third volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"Today's bipartisan report clearly reiterates the fact that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and underscores the need for our nation's intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and lawmakers to work together to combat Russia's efforts to do so again in the 2020 election. Let's be clear: Russia's efforts to influence our elections are a threat to the integrity of our democracy. Everyone, regardless of party, should agree that we must do more to safeguard the security of our elections.

"The Committee's report identifies, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, the challenges our government faced in responding to Russian interference in the months leading up to the 2016 election. The report highlights valuable lessons learned from the United States' experience in 2016--what was done well and what could have been done better--to identify and counter the threat.

"The Committee's report shows the risks of compartmentation and limited congressional notification in formulating a timely response. It also shows that during the campaign, candidate Trump's public statements made an already difficult situation even worse. It is now incumbent on the current administration to learn the lessons identified in the report, and to implement policies to facilitate threat identification, timely attribution, information sharing, and clear, actionable, response options.

"As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I am committed to holding the president and this administration accountable to their duty to protect our elections. Russia and other adversaries will target our elections again. We must be ready."

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