US appoints former CIA official as election threats executive
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Jeffrey Wichman, a former CIA official for over 30 years, will be supervising foreign threats to elections and American politics.
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Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines
The US Director of National Intelligence, Avil Haines, has appointed a former CIA official, Jeffrey Wichman, as the executive of foreign election threats, according to the Director's Spokesperson Nicole de Haay.
Election threats monitoring has already been amped up by intelligence organizations like the National Security Agency and the United States Cyber Command, ahead of this year's midterm elections. However, without a new election threats executive, some on Capitol Hill feared that work would halt, cooperation would deteriorate, and fundamental analytical disputes would go unsolved.
Wichman's appointment occurred after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was forced to postpone plans to establish a foreign malign influence center, which would monitor foreign efforts to influence elections and American politics in general. Disagreements on Capitol Hill over the magnitude of the initiative and its funding have hindered the creation of that center.
The Director of the CIA's electoral threats division will chair a new committee charged with developing a shared understanding of what constitutes malicious election interference.
Officials in the government are still examining how foreign threats are altering ahead of this year's midterm elections.
According to a senior intelligence officer, firms are increasingly undertaking campaigns for foreign governments.
Shelby Pierson was named election threats executive in 2019 after working on security problems related to the 2018 midterm elections.
However, due to President Donald J. Trump's sensitivity to accusations of Russian election meddling, the job rapidly turned fraught.
Pierson led a briefing to Congress in February 2020 that accused Russia of meddling in the elections. Trump in an outrage, dismissed the Interim Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire. Following that, the Trump administration barred Pierson from briefing Congress.
Former intelligence officials have expressed that leaving the position empty for months hindered the initial coordinating operation as sharing information between intelligence agencies has been difficult.
