Congress to receive classified briefing on election security Tuesday

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has rescheduled a briefing for Congress on election security, which will now be classified, for Tuesday morning.

Top U.S. officials are expected to brief lawmakers behind closed doors on current threats and risks to the election process and efforts by the Trump administration to help state officials secure their digital voting assets from hackers.

{mosads}The briefing will take place at 8 a.m. and will be classified, according to an aide for Ryan. The briefing was originally expected to take place last Thursday and be unclassified but closed to the public.

Ryan postponed the briefing last week in order to make it classified, after Democrats complained that the unclassified nature would prevent officials from going into sufficient detail about the scope of the threat or the administration’s efforts to secure upcoming elections.  

Officials have grown increasingly wary of digital threats to future elections following Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential contest, which included efforts to target and hack into state electoral systems, like voter registration databases.

The Department of Homeland Security has been working to provide state election officials with cybersecurity vulnerability assessments and other services in order to ensure that their digital systems are secure and resilient and to bolster confidence in the vote. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats are expected to brief lawmakers Tuesday on those efforts and the overall threat landscape. 

The briefing will take place as voters in Arkansas, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky head to the polls.