With hours to go before a tense Election Day, the FBI allowed journalists a brief look at the command center the law enforcement agency is using to monitor potential threats to the vote. The National Election Command Post at FBI headquarters in Washington is staffed 24/7 with about 80 people on duty from 12 agencies. It’s set to remain open through Saturday, but could be extended if necessary, Politico reports. Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle said the center is poised to address a wide range of potential threats from foreign interference to home-grown terrorism or violence.
“The FBI is well positioned to respond to threats that would come in or information that would come in that would affect our election security,” Barnacle said. “Those threats include criminal threats such as threats to election workers, foreign malign influence, cyber threats and acts of domestic violence.” Barnacle said the command center was set up Friday — earlier than in past years — and has already responded to threats from overseas as well as attempts to compromise election-related computer systems maintained by secretaries of state. There has been no significant uptick in threats in the few days the center has been open, but the Justice Department launched an Election Threats Task Force in 2021 and has brought at least 20 criminal cases over such incidents. At a task force meeting in September, Attorney General Merrick Garland decried “an unprecedented spike in threats against the public servants who do administer our elections.”
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