As the midterms approach, there has been an ongoing and generalized fit by those advocates of “the rules-based order” as to the results and implications of an expected sea change in that election. In that context, it should be considered what the re-establishment of the National Security Agency’s “Russia Small Group” means. At an event at Vanderbilt University in early May, Paul Nakasone uttered the curious formulation, “the band is already back together, it’s formed.” Nakasone, both the head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, went on to say, “[W]e’re less than 200 days before our nation goes to vote for midterm elections, and I assure you that we are ready and we will be ready going forward.”
In the context of Nakasone’s comments at Vanderbilt, The Record reported that “U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency have named the newest leaders of a joint election security task force that will play a central role in keeping the 2022 midterm elections free of foreign interference.
“The task force, originally dubbed the Russia Small Group, was established in 2018 by Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, who helms both Cyber Command and the NSA, to protect the 2018 midterms from meddling by Moscow.
“It was rechristened the Election Security Group (ESG) ahead of the 2020 presidential election, and its mandate was tweaked to include threats from countries including China, North Korea, and Iran, as well as non-state actors.”
A Bloomberg article from May 6th says that “the election security team is comprised of military and civil personnel from both of Nakasone’s agencies, who will liaise with the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and U.S. National Guard units at the local and state level, among others.”
The 2018 “Russia Small Group” eventually became the Cybersecurity Directorate, and Nakasone appointed Anne Neuberger as the first Director of Cybersecurity. Neuberger is presently at the Biden White House’s National Security Council, where she is the Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology—a newly created post.
Neuberger, as the head of the Russia Small Group worked closely with Chris Krebs of the Department of Homeland Security’s CISA, before he was summarily fired by President Trump in the days after the 2020 election. Neuberger and Krebs also worked closely with FBI Director Chris Wray on election security issues in the 2018 midterms, as well as countering disinformation coming from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. There was also international collaboration, particularly with the National Cybersecurity Center of the GCHQ, and its head at the time, Ciaran Martin. The National Cybersecurity Center was created by GCHQ head Robert Hannigan before he left and came to the United States to join BlueVoyant—a firm that deals with election security issues!
