The Latest: Johnson says hacking didn't alter ballot counts
Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says cyberattacks orchestrated by the Russian government did not alter any ballots, ballot counts or the reporting of election results.
[...] Johnson tells the House Intelligence committee that he doesn't know whether the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails and other Moscow-directed interference "did in fact alter public opinion, and thereby alter the outcome of the presidential election."
The president-elect of the National Association of Secretaries of State says state election officials are only now learning about the scope of the Russian hacking during last year's election.
Connie Lawson, the current secretary of state for Indiana, says a recently leaked report purportedly from the National Security Agency suggests election-related hacking penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously known.
Lawson also told the Senate intelligence committee Wednesday that the government is not sharing classified details about the breach with state officials.
Undersecretary for cybersecurity at DHS, Jeanette Manfra, says there is evidence that 21 state election systems were targeted, but she told the Senate intelligence committee she couldn't disclose the identities of the states because that was up to the states.
Johnson says he moved to designate U.S. elections as critical infrastructure on the same day as the release of a declassified U.S. intelligence report that said Russian President Vladimir Putin "ordered" an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is testifying at a House intelligence committee hearing as the panel presses ahead with its investigation of Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.
In prepared testimony, he described the interactions the Obama administration had with secretaries of state and local election officials about the dangers that Russian hacking posed.
In early January, Johnson designated U.S. election systems such as polling places and voter registration databases as critical infrastructure.