Nov 05, 2024

FBI national command post monitoring election security threats

Posted Nov 05, 2024 11:00 AM
Photo FBI
Photo FBI

The FBI, in conjunction with key partners, is operating a 24/7 national election command post (NECP) from the Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC) at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., during the 2024 national election, according to a media release from the agency.

Numerous FBI Headquarters divisions are represented in the NECP, as well as federal partners from a variety of agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, Department of Homeland Security, Election Assistance Commission, and Federal Communications Commission. 

The NECP's purpose is to ensure the FBI is well-positioned to respond to any election security issue that may arise, including federal election crimes, threats to election workers, foreign malign influence operations, cyber threats, and acts of domestic terrorism. The NECP will track significant complaints from all 55 FBI field offices through their respective command posts.

“The purpose of the command post is to ensure 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,” said James Barnacle, deputy assistant director of the Bureau’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Those threats include criminal threats such as threats to election workers, foreign malign influence, cyber threats and acts of domestic violence.”

About 80 personnel from the FBI and about a dozen partner agencies are staffing the command post in the FBI’s Strategic Information Operations Center. The command post opened on November 1 and will run through at least November 9.

“We feel like we're well positioned to handle and triage information that comes in,” Barnacle said. “We have the people in place. We've identified the right people at the different agencies. We've developed those partnerships over the last few years. We're going to take the information that comes in, and we're going to take it through our process, and we're going to share that information.”

Barnacle said that each of the FBI’s 55 field offices is also staffing a command post that is closely connected with their partner agencies and election officials. That way information or complaints that are fielded at the local level or though the FBI’s tip line, tips.fbi.gov, get to the people who can triage and best determine a response.

“We look at that threat information,” Barnacle said. “We run it through our indices. We engage with our partners. There's a lot of partner agencies here at the command post. So we triage that information. We also work with Department of Justice to ensure that we are staying within policy and taking the information and then sending it back out to the field or to state or local election officials.”

In the days leading up to Election Day, SIOC’s National Crisis Coordination Center (NC3) was humming with activity. The space hosts command posts for other high-profile events, such as presidential inaugurations and State of the Union speeches. Created in 1989, SIOC began with just seven employees and 3,000 square feet of space. Today, its footprint has grown to 40,000 square feet.

The FBI is mandated by National Security Presidential Memorandum 32 to provide timely information about national security incidents so leaders have the information to manage a crisis and support national security decision-making. SIOC is part of the FBI’s information flow under the NSPM-32 process.

Partner agencies in the election security command post include the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Capitol Police, the Election Assistance Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and multiple components of the Department of Justice, including the Public Integrity Section.

“What all of these folks are doing is triaging information,” Barnacle said. “We've had information coming in to the FBI in the last few days. Some of it has been maybe state or local matters, and we're just making sure it gets to state and local officials.”

“When information is threatening and it rises to the violation of federal laws,” Barnacle added, “then we look to take action.”