Several news outlets are reporting that the Obama Administration is likely to announce very shortly a packet of measures it will pursue in response to Russian cyber activities during the presidential election. The Washington Post‘s Ellen Nakashima has an in-depth report on the internal executive branch deliberations on whether to alter existing presidential authorities to classify the election system as “critical infrastructure” of the United States. In light of these developments, we highly recommend reading (or re-reading) Kristen Eichensehr’s Just Security post from August titled, “Cybersecurity, Elections, and Critical Infrastructure at Home and Abroad.”
Eichensehr argues in favor of classifying election systems as critical infrastructure, explains how such a decision can link up with opportunities to develop cyber norms at the international level in intergovernmental meetings, and touches on Russia’s position in those intergovernmental negotiations.