根据参议院小组对选举干预的两党调查周四发布的一份报告，政府官员担心警告公众俄罗斯正在为颠覆2016年美国选举所做的努力将会在美国投票系统的完整性上制造不和。
这67页的报告参议院情报委员会发布的这份报告，虽然大部分被编辑过，但重申了俄罗斯破坏美国选举的广泛努力已经为人所知。
该报告显示，“各级政府”的官员都担心选举诚信会受到侵蚀，因此选择不向州一级的工作人员发出详细警告，这反过来导致地方官员对“任何额外的紧急情况”不作出反应，从而导致“混乱和缺乏信息”。
“2016年，各级政府官员就公开承认这一外国活动是否是正确的道路展开了辩论，”报告称。“一些人深感担忧的是，公众警告可能会加深他们试图消除的印象——投票系统不安全。”
继2016年6月俄罗斯行为者在伊利诺伊州违规后，联邦调查局于8月向几个身份不明的州发布了“紧急警报”——提醒地方当局注意潜在网络安全威胁的警告。但是标记特定知识产权地址的警报缺乏足够的信息，州政府官员无法正确处理这些地址。
“对大多数国家来说，俄罗斯试图黑进石板基础设施的故事是一个混乱和缺乏信息的故事。该报告称:“这始于各州认为无关紧要的事件:2016年8月18日，联邦调查局发布了[修订版的紧急通知。
10月中旬，无论是国土安全部还是多国信息共享与分析中心都没有“识别出”[与民族国家行为者相关联的知识产权地址。'
“鉴于缺乏背景，收到通知的国家工作人员没有将任何额外的紧急情况归因于警告；对他们来说，在数千个不断ping通州系统的地址中，有几个是可疑的。"很少有州信息技术主管将警报通知州选举官员."
2016年11月8日，一名妇女在总统选举投票后离开投票站。新泽西纽波特。
该报告发布前几小时，参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)阻止了民主党提出的两项选举安全措施的投票，前特别顾问罗伯特·穆勒在国会小组作证后一天，他告诉立法者，俄罗斯继续努力影响美国选举。
“这不是一次尝试。穆勒在谈到俄罗斯时说:“我们坐在这里的时候，他们正在这样做，他们希望在下一次竞选中这样做。”。“为了防范这些入侵——不仅是俄罗斯人的入侵，还有其他人的入侵，还需要做更多的工作。”
他长达448页的报告得出结论，俄罗斯在2016年以“全面和系统的方式”进行了干预
尽管穆勒发出警告，参议院共和党人已经阻止了四票自从他作证以来，该法案将在全国范围内加强选举安全系统和法律。
共和党情报委员会主席理查德·伯尔(Richard Burr)在一份声明中表示:“2016年，美国各级政府对来自坚定的外国对手对我们选举基础设施的一致攻击毫无准备。”。
他补充说，DHS和“州和地方选举官员已经极大地改变了他们对待选举安全的方式”，但是“还有很多工作要做”
委员会的最高民主党参议员马克·华纳同意伯尔的观点，但更进一步说白宫和所有议员都应该注意。
他在一份声明中表示:“我希望这份报告中概述的两党调查结果和建议将向白宫和我们所有的同事强调，无论哪个政党，这一威胁仍然紧迫，我们有责任捍卫我们的民主，反对这一威胁。”。
尽管此前在2017年1月的情报社区评估中被解密，但委员会中的民主党人重申了俄罗斯行为者当时在报告中的意图。
“俄罗斯人‘准备公开质疑选举结果的有效性’，亲克里姆林宫的博客们在选举之夜准备了一场推特运动，名为民主革命，期待克林顿国务卿的胜利”。
OFFICIALS FAILED TO SOUND ALARM ON 2016 RUSSIAN MEDDLING TO AVOID PORTRAYING VOTING SYSTEMS AS 'INSECURE'
Covernment officials feared that warning the public about ongoing efforts by Russia to subvert the 2016 U.S. elections would sow discord in the integrity of America's voting systems, according to a report released Thursday by a Senate panel's bipartisan investigation into election interference.
The 67-page report issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee, although largely redacted, reaffirms much of which is already known about Russia's extensive efforts to undermine an American election.
The report revealed that officials at "all levels of government" were concerned with eroding election integrity and thus chose not to offer detailed warnings to staffers at the state level, which in turn led local officials to not react with "any additional urgency," causing "confusion and a lack of information."
"In 2016, officials at all levels of government debated whether publicly acknowledging this foreign activity was the right course," the report stated. "Some were deeply concerned that public warnings might promote the very impression they were trying to dispel—that the voting systems were insecure."
Following a breach in Illinois by Russian actors in June 2016, FBI "flash alerts"—warnings of potential cyber security threats alerted to local authorities—were issued to several unidentified states in August. But the alerts flagging specific IP addresses lacked enough information for state officials to properly address them.
"For most states, the story of Russian attempts to hack slate infrastructure was one of confusion and a lack of information. It began with what states interpreted as an insignificant event: an FBI FLASH notification on August 18, 2016 [redacted]," the report states.
In mid-October, neither Homeland Security nor the Multi-State-Information Sharing & Analysis Center "identif[ied] the IP addresses as associated with a nation-state actor.'
"Given the lack of context, state staff who received the notification did not ascribe any additional urgency to the warning; to them, it was a few more suspect IP addresses among the thousands that were constantly pinging state systems," the report said. "Very few state IT directors informed state election officials about the alert."
A woman exits a polling station after voting in the presidential election on November 8, 2016. in Newport, New Jersey.
The release of the report came just hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked votes on two election security measures proposed by Democrats and one day after former special counsel Robert Mueller testified before congressional panels, where he told lawmakers there were continued efforts by Russia to influence American elections.
"It wasn't a single attempt. They're doing it as we sit here, and they expect to do it during the next campaign," Mueller said of Russia. "Much more needs to be done in order to protect against these intrusions—not just by the Russians, but others as well."
His 448-page report concluded that Russia interfered in 2016 in a "sweeping and systematic fashion."
Despite Mueller's warning, Senate Republicans have since blocked four votes on bills that would bolster election security systems and laws throughout the country since he testified.
"In 2016, the U.S. was unprepared at all levels of government for a concerted attack from a determined foreign adversary on our election infrastructure," Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, said in a statement.
He added DHS and "state and local elections officials have dramatically changed how they approach election security" but said "there is still much work that remains to be done."
The committee's top Democrat, Senator Mark Warner, concurred with Burr, but went a step further to say the White House and all lawmakers should take notice.
"I hope the bipartisan findings and recommendations outlined in this report will underscore to the White House and all of our colleagues, regardless of political party, that this threat remains urgent, and we have a responsibility to defend our democracy against it," he said in a statement.
Although previously declassified in a January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, Democrats on the committee reiterated the intent Russian actors had at the time in the report.
"The Russians were 'prepared to publicly call into question the validity of the results' and 'pro-Kremlin bloggers had prepared a Twitter campaign, #DemocracyRIP, on election night in anticipation of Secretary Clinton's victory,'" the report states.
