Jen Easterly testifying before the US Senate Intelligence Committee
One of Pembroke’s very own has perhaps the most important and sensitive job in the United States government this year: protecting the security and integrity of the 2024 elections.
Jen Easterly (arms crossed) as a student at Pembroke
As Director of the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , or CISA, Jen Easterly ‘90 leads the U.S. government’s efforts to understand and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every single day. Insuring the integrity of this year’s elections is a top priority for Jen.
(Perhaps equally, if not more, important, Jen describes herself as “a proud mom, a mental health advocate, a Rubik’s Cube enthusiast, and an aspiring electric guitarist.”)
Jen attended Pembroke as Rhodes Scholar, where she read PPE after graduating from the United States Military Academy. Jen will be participating in the Pembroke 400 Festival of Ideas Festival in College on June 29 as a member of the Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Impact panel.
Jen appeared before the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence on May 15 to testify about the potential risks of foreign actors interfering in U.S. electoral process, and the steps her agency is taking to protect against them.
Given the importance of Jen’s work and the concerns many Americans have about the integrity of our voting systems, especially in this presidential election year, The North American Pembrokian is reprinting here excerpts of her remarks to the Senate Committee:
“Since 2017 [when US government officials identified various attempts by foreign countries to access voting lists and otherwise compromise our election infrastructure] CISA and our partners across the federal government have made significant progress increasing the security and the resilience of our nation’s elections, working to support state and local election officials administering, managing, and securing our elections.”
As a direct result of these efforts, Jen was pleased to report to the senators, “Our election infrastructure has never been more secure. And as a further direct result of these efforts, state and local election officials across the United States ran secure federal elections in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
“There is no evidence that malicious actors changed, altered, or deleted votes or had any impact on the outcome of these elections. And in the states where the 2020 Presidential election was close, officials had paper records that were used to count, recount, or audit to ensure accuracy.
“In this role, I’ve had the privilege to spend time with Chief Election Officials across the country of both parties and witness how tirelessly they work to ensure that their citizens’ votes are counted as cast. It’s why I have confidence in the integrity of our elections, and why the American people should as well.
“However, we cannot be complacent. Our foreign adversaries remain a persistent threat to our elections, intent on undermining Americans’ confidence [in our elections] and sowing partisan discord….Perhaps even more concerning, however, is the continuing physical threats toward election officials, largely stemming from unfounded claims that the 2020 election did not represent the will of the people.
“Such claims are corrosive to our most sacred of democratic. We at CISA are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these election heroes defending the very foundation of our democracy.
“As these officials know, elections are political, but election security is not.”
Jen’s full statement to the Committee may be accessed at:
May 20th, 2024 → 10:33 am @ admin
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