The National Guard will be activating cybersecurity teams in 14 states ahead of the midterm elections on Tuesday to counter any potential interferences, Politico and StateScoop reported on Friday.
The decision to have teams ready for support has become a familiar one over the past few elections after the reports of Russian interference operations during the 2016 presidential election.
“Cyber’s that new domain. It’s a man-made domain,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, head of the Illinois National Guard, according to media outlet StateScoop. “Our goal is to make sure we have as secure elections as possible. We are at the really beginning stages of this.”
National Guard Cyber Forces provided support in eight states during primary elections earlier this year and are reportedly prepared to protect the integrity of the midterms if necessary.
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Voters at a polling location for the 2020 presidential election in Ankeny, Iowa, on Nov. 3, 2020.
(Getty Images)
The 14 states with teams on duty Tuesday are North Carolina, Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Washington and West Virginia.
National Guard officials will work and receive security updates from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the key agency tasked with protecting election infrastructure against cyber threats, according to Politico.
There are 38 total cyber units within the National Guard consisting of over 2,200 personnel working to support state and local officials with cyber issues like network assessments and risk mitigation.
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(U.S. Army National Guard soldiers (Spc. Matthew A. Foster))
States like North Carolina have “core teams” of 10 cyber personnel, but that number will increase during an election…