§3371 Required Counterintelligence Assessments, Briefings, Notifications, and Reports

Summary

The Director of National Intelligence must publish an online advisory about foreign spying and cyber threats to campaigns for Federal office. The Director must work with the FBI Director and the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis. The advisory must describe the threats, give simple best practices campaigns can use, and list public resources (including government resources). The report must show the most current information available. For each election, the report must be posted no later than one year before the election (for 2020 it had to be posted no later than 60 days after December 20, 2020), and it can be updated later. If the FBI Director and the DHS Under Secretary together decide a campaign faces a higher risk, they may give extra information to that campaign’s representatives. Within 45 days after a Federal election cycle ends, the Director must assess any information that a foreign government or someone acting for a foreign government tried to interfere in Federal elections during that cycle. The assessment must identify the type of interference, the methods used, the people involved, and the foreign government(s) responsible, as far as possible. The Director must send the findings and any supporting information to the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and Congress. The Director must also make the findings public within 60 days after the cycle ends, as much as possible while protecting sources and methods. A “Federal election cycle” starts the day after a regular general election for Federal office and ends on the date of the next regular general election for Federal office. These rules apply starting with the cycle that began in November 2018 and for every cycle after that.