Biden administration officials at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) are urging a judge not to release a report on Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Georgia by arguing that the move would “threaten election security.”
CISA has already obtained an unredacted version of the report, which was written by University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society Director J. Alex Halderman. The professor has been criticized by both Dominion and Georgia Secretary State Brad Raffensperger (R).
The report should be released after being reviewed under CISA’s Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure process, ​​Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boyton and Department of Justice attorney Bringham Bowen argued in the Feb. 10 filing, obtained by The Epoch Times.
The officials argued that the redacted report should not be released right now, but Raffensperger, one of the defendants, called last month for the “secret report” to be released immediately.
“CISA’s goal is to disclose any confirmed vulnerabilities and associated mitigations to the public in a coordinated way, so the entire cyber ecosystem can benefit while minimizing the risk of harm to election security,” the attorneys write.
The attorneys proposed that CISA would decide when to release the report.
The case was initially brought forward in 2017 by “good-government groups and voters who say the lack of paper ballots undermines the voting process,” The Epoch Times reports.
Raffensperger last month called Halderman “an individual who is paid to espouse opinions supporting the elimination of electronic voting systems to help a lawsuit brought by liberal activist.”
“The public deserves to know the context of J. Alex Halderman’s claims and his testimony regarding the 2020 election,” Raffensperger said. “We are taking on these claims in court, and we will win. Sensationalized media articles and misleading reports from paid activists notwithstanding, Georgia’s election system is safe and secure.”
Dominion President and CEO John Poulus said, “Security assessments of any system, including voting systems, should always include a holistic approach of all safeguards in place, including procedural and technical safeguards,” according to Raffensperger.
“There is a reason why US voting systems rely on bipartisan election officials, poll-watchers, distributed passwords, access controls, and audit processes,” Poulus said, noting that Halderman’s review “did not take this approach.”
“Dominion supports all efforts to bring real facts and evidence forward to defend the integrity of our machines and the credibility of Georgia’s elections,” the Dominion official stated.