Going to shoot the cyber attackers?
Via Daily Mail:
President Obama’s administration produced a 15-page plan in October to put in place in case of an election day cyber attack, courtesy of the Russians, who had already targeted Hillary Clinton’s aides and the Democratic National Committee.
Time Magazine obtained a copy of the document, which notes that while ‘state, local, tribal, and territorial governments’ would have the primary jurisdiction to respond, the federal government would have ‘enhanced procedures’ in place in case of a heightened incident.
Besides having all the FBI and DHS cyber experts at the ready, the document referenced military plans, and also a public relations campaign, in order to keep doubts about the legitimacy of the election at bay.
For instance, listed under the Department of Defense’s response, the document reads: ‘Available forces for incident response in a federal status could include the Active and Reserve Components, to include the National Guard.’
And while armed federal personnel are prohibited by law to enter a polling place, a cyber attack that shut down voting would scrap that, the document made clear.
‘It is important to note that the Department of Justice has concluded that armed federal law enforcement agents may, where otherwise appropriate, respond to a cyber or other incident at a polling place that caused it to cease functioning (i.e. when balloting has entirely ceased at that location),’ it read.
Additionally, in order to combat any sort of ‘fake news’ stories planted after an election hack, a special interagency group would stay assembled until Friday, November 11, three days after voting to address ‘any post-election cyber incidents.’
Public affairs professionals would be on hand to carefully craft messages.