From: HuffPo/Center for Public Integrity
This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
The Federal Election Commission is asking Congress for nearly $3 million to address what it says are serious security breaches and an obsolete IT system.
The requests follow an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity that in December revealed Chinese hackers infiltrated the agency’s computer systems.
The investigation also detailed how the FEC is grappling with chronic staffing shortages that have hobbled its ability to execute some of its most basic functions, such as ensuring the accuracy and legality of campaign finance disclosures for political candidates and committees.
Among the FEC’s requests contained in a 41-page budget request it today submitted to Capitol Hill:
- $1.51 million for “IT security enhancement.” The FEC acknowledges to Congress that it “has recently been subject to high-profile cyber security attacks” and “has become more visible to individuals and groups that pursue such attacks, fundamentally and irrevocably increasing the level of threat to the agency’s systems and data.” It continues: “Without an appropriation at the requested level, the agency will be required to delay or cancel these projects, placing the FEC’s systems and data at further risk.”
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