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U.S. government sees no evidence of hacking in Tuesday's elections
A general view of the Department of Justice building is seen in Washington, U.S., April 18, 2019. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
05/11/2019
(Reuters) - Voting in U.S. state and local elections on Tuesday showed no evidence of successful tampering by any foreign government, the Justice Department and six U.S. security agencies said.
But Russia, China, Iran and other adversaries of the United States will seek to meddle in U.S. elections moving forward, including through social media manipulation and cyberattacks, the agencies said.
"While at this time we have no evidence of a compromise or disruption to election infrastructure that would enable adversaries to prevent voting, change vote counts or disrupt the ability to tally votes, we continue to vigilantly monitor any threats to U.S. elections," a joint statement, signed by the heads of each agency, said.
The agencies have increased efforts to protect elections and a new position was created within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to focus solely on U.S. election security
A January 2017 assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies found that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election and its goals included aiding President Donald Trump.
National security experts have said they believe foreign governments will again target the 2020 presidential election in an effort to influence U.S. voters.
In February 2018, the Justice Department created the first ever Cyber Digital Task Force with the mission of protecting future U.S. elections from foreign interference.
(Reporting by Christopher Bing and Mark HosenballEditing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman)
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