Ex-Obama homeland security chief to face intelligence panel

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the Russian government at President Vladimir Putin's direction clearly conducted cyberattacks on the United States to influence the presidential election, but the assault did not change ballots, the final count or the reporting of election results.

In prepared testimony, Johnson described the steps he took once he learned of the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, his fears about a cyberattack on the election itself and his rationale for designating U.S. election systems, including polling places and voter registration databases, as critical infrastructure in early January — two weeks before President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The Senate intelligence committee plans a hearing on the same election issues with current FBI, homeland security and state election officials.

[...] the former homeland security chief said, To my current knowledge, the Russian government did not through any cyber intrusion alter ballots, ballot counts or reporting of election results.

Johnson's designation of U.S. election systems as critical infrastructure was aimed at providing more federal cybersecurity assistance to state and local governments to keep voting safe from tampering.