Good morning, everyone. I'm Jackie Speer, a member of Congress from the 14th District
in California, and I'm delighted to join you via this conference setting in a virtual manner
for DEFCON's Voting Village again this year. I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am
to this effort each year. And a special shout out to Harry Hurstey and all of you who have
weathered many storms to make sure that the DEFCON conference and the Voting Village could
continue to move forward. There is nothing more precious in our country than the right
to vote. And to have it in any way manipulated is the grossest act of war. And we don't talk
about that in terms of what Russia did in 2016, but it was for all intents and purposes
an act of cyber warfare. So what you do is critical to maintaining our democracy. And
I hope that all of you think of yourselves as patriots, because you are. And it is pursuing
this patriotic duty to make sure that the right to vote remains preeminent in this country
and that it is free from manipulation is what is truly very, very important. So the integrity
of our election system has, I think for a number of years, been subject to the impacts
of those who want to do damage to us. And I have been concerned about it. I've worried
about it. I've spent time talking to Harry about it. I've actually co-sponsored conferences
where DEFCON could come to the Capitol and make their case to the members and staff.
And Harry has been one of the preeminent speakers on those occasions. And frankly, he scared
the living daylights out of me the first time I talked to him, because it made me realize
how pervious, how easy it is to have these machines be co-opted, because there isn't
some national standard. We have always allowed states to develop their own systems, and so
many counties have their own systems, and the number of machines and types of machines
have varied. One thing I think we've all come to realize is the importance of a paper
trail. Without a paper trail, the ability to act with impunity is indeed very great.
On the issue of threats to our elections, I'm a member of the House Intelligence Committee,
so I've spent many years now observing this particular issue, and I spend many an hour
hearing from experts on Russia and its tactics and its interests. During the Cold War, the
Kremlin was very interested in self-content, disrupting our relations with European countries,
discrediting opponents of the Soviet Union. And as I describe all of these things, it
sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? Because that is Vladimir Putin. He was a KGB operative.
He runs the Kremlin as if he is still the head of the KGB. And all of his colleagues,
those closest to him, the oligarchs, all were from his early days in St. Petersburg
and in the KGB. So much of that mentality continues to infiltrate the theories and objectives
of Russia today. So we have had some really remarkable things happen because of the digital
connectivity that has grown over the last 20 or 30 years. Accessing government services,
we do digitally now. Engaging in commerce is becoming more and more an e-commerce activity
and not a retail brick-and-mortar store activity. Advancing our education is done online in
many respects today. And in the midst of COVID, it's the only way that we are able to provide
educational experiences for our young people. But with all of this greatness that has become
associated with the connectivity that we have through cyber, also has come some really
great challenges for our democracy and probably the greatest challenge in our history. Countries
like Russia and China and even Iran now is looking at opportunities to do us harm on
one level or another. So it's very important that we recognize that we have work to do
in this field. No longer are our adversaries separated from us by oceans. In fact, they're
at our doorstep virtually every day because they can. And because we have not developed
a robust level of cyber hygiene that is important on every level of government and commerce as
well. We do know that Russia has been very successful. The Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence found in their report that in 2016, all 50 states, I repeat that, all 50 states
were targeted by the Russian interests in 2016. And for example, in Illinois, Russian cyber
actors gained enough access to the voter files in Illinois that they could delete or change
voter data. So, I mean, you can imagine what they can do if they were able to do that in 2016.
I'm certain that they have improved their skills and it's incumbent on us in each of our states
to make sure that our systems are not going to be subject to those kinds of intrusions moving
forward. In March of this year, social media companies in conjunction with Grafika were able to
identify a Russian internet research agency activity where they had taken it one step further,
gotten that much smarter, and were using legitimate third parties in Ghana and Nigeria to be able
to move their messages forward. So, that particular operation used authentic and fake accounts
to post almost exclusively on racial issues in the United States, promoting Black empowerment
and often displaying anger towards white Americans. Their interest is to create chaos to divide
our country and, unfortunately, much like the President does in many of his press conferences.
And we all should be concerned about the fact that the President of the United States has not found
it appropriate to call out Russia for putting bounties, if in fact we can believe what has been
reported in the New York Times and other news outlets, putting bounties on U.S. service members
by paying Taliban, by believing Russia, by believing Putin in terms of his calling out and saying,
no, we didn't do anything, when all the evidence is so strong and all of our intelligence agencies
with high confidence were able to say that Russia intended to and did succeed in intervening in our elections.
You know, I'm always reminded of the experience of Paul Manafort and his sidekick Rick Gates
who met with Konstantin Kalimnik in a cigar private club in New York City, in which Paul Manafort turned over
to Konstantin Kalimnik, a known intelligence officer within Russia, turned over campaign polling data.
And that should have been it. That should have been enough for all of us to realize that there was an effort
to coordinate the campaign of then-candidate Trump and the Russian interference.
So I think it's very important for us to recognize that Moscow hasn't gone away, that they intend to sharpen their skills
and do whatever they can during this particular election.
So, mail-in voting. The president, unfortunately, continues to undermine mail-in voting, which has been with us for a very long time.
He is attempting also to suggest that we should postpone the election.
Again, another way to distract from what's really important right now.
There's no ability, no power by the president of the United States to postpone an election.
It's in the Constitution. It's by statute. And the House and Senate would have to act to do that.
And there's no interest in either the House nor the Senate to postpone the election.
And it's important to remember that in our history, not during the Civil War, not during two world wars,
not during the Great Depression, not during the pandemic in 1918, did we postpone the election.
We are not going to postpone the election this year.
So, our efforts to expand the opportunity that both the president and the first lady, Melania Trump, have voted absentee in previous years.
And if it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for every other American as well.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of Americans support absentee voting.
And they think it should be available to any voter.
And that you should not be required to have a doctor's order or request in order to have that.
So, it is certainly our intention to make sure that vote by mail is protected during this presidential election.
There's also been arguments about voter fraud.
You may remember that the president created, back in 2017 and 2018, a commission to look at voter fraud.
And then, all of a sudden, he disbanded it without much fanfare.
But he disbanded it in part because they did not find any voter fraud of any degree that would have impacted any of our elections.
So, I think as we defend the right for every American to vote, we've got to make sure there's proper funding.
And the CARES Act provided about $400 million to the states to prepare for the election cycle this year.
And the HEROES Act, which has been passed by the House but not yet by the Senate, actually provides for $3.6 billion.
And has provisions to make sure that early voting will be able to continue.
And that we have early voting that is available 15 days before the election.
That there should be no excuse needed for vote by mail.
And that we should start scanning ballots early so that there won't be the kind of wait come election day.
So, having said all of that, let me just say also that John Lewis provided us with some great messaging.
He said it's important to get into good trouble, necessary trouble.
And I think of all of you in this program as being part of making good trouble.
To make sure that we have a heightened understanding of how pervious so many of our systems can be to those that want to do harm to our country.
And sometimes, as John Lewis also said, the only way is to get in the way.
And I think it's important for us to get in the way of any efforts by Russia or China or Iran or any other country that wants to do us harm.
That we make sure that they cannot get in our way of retaining this democracy and protecting it for all future generations.
So again, thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you.
Remember that you are true patriots. You are a new generation of founding fathers and mothers who realize how important the vote is.
And who recognize that we have an obligation to police our own internet.
To make sure that hostile and hate speech and misogynistic speech is not tolerated.
And that candidates who are running are not treated in a manner of disrespect that creates an environment where there is a suppression of vote because of the hate speech or the misogynistic speech.
So I hope all of you have a phenomenal conference. I hope you will provide us in Congress more guidance.
We are always open to your insights and recognize full well that you have much to offer all of us in the country.
So bless you all and congratulations again for yet another DEF CON that will enlighten all of us.
Thank you.
Okay, that's great. Thank you so much, Congresswoman.
I'll take it from here and we'll get that uploaded and I'll send the link to your staff.
Thank you so much.