Op-Eds

In May, other members of Florida’s congressional delegation and I were briefed for 90 minutes in the U.S. Capitol by officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. I sought the briefing after then-special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report showed Russia had probed and even pierced election networks in Florida, among the most closely contested states in U.S. politics. Although our briefers supplied new details, much remained unknown. What I do know, I can’t talk about. Why that’s the case is itself a mystery.

The Mueller report noted that Moscow’s meddling involved three lines of effort, and Florida was a target of each. First, a Russian entity conducted a social media campaign to sow discord and help then-candidate Donald Trump, including by organizing pro-Trump rallies in Florida. Second, a Russian intelligence agency — the GRU — hacked computer accounts connected to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. As part of this effort, it published Florida-related data stolen from House Democrats’ campaign arm.

Finally, Mueller reported, the GRU sought to infiltrate computer networks involved in the administration of elections, which could enable Russia to alter voter registration databases or perhaps vote tabulation systems. That would be tantamount to an act of war, with malware rather than missiles as the weapon of choice. While Russian cyber actors cast a wide net, Florida’s county-based election supervisors were a focal point.

The fact that Florida’s election infrastructure was specifically — and successfully — targeted wasn’t made public until about three years after the fact, when a single sentence deep in the Mueller report revealed Russia had breached “at least one” county in the state. Along with my Republican colleague from Florida, Michael Waltz, I asked federal law enforcement officials to brief the state’s congressional delegation. Waltz and I both have national security backgrounds, and we wanted to better understand this threat to our country and state.

At the briefing, we were astonished to discover that, in fact, two Florida counties had been penetrated. Although it appears the Russians were in a position to alter voter data in these counties, there is no evidence to indicate they did so. We were told the counties’ names but were barred by our briefers from disclosing them to the public. A subsequent report by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, which refers to targeted states by number, has deepened the mystery. The heavily redacted discussion of “State 2” — which appears to be Florida — now suggests four counties might have been compromised. Waltz and I have requested another briefing to clarify. Presumably, we will again be prohibited from sharing what we learn with our constituents.