Obama eyes special declaration to take charge of elections

Homeland eyes special declaration to take charge of elections: Even before the FBI identified new cyberattacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a critical infrastructure, giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and the electric power grid. The latest admissions of attacks could speed up that effort possibly including the upcoming presidential election, according to officials. We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said. There's a vital national interest in our election process, so I do think we need to consider whether it should be considered by my department and others critical infrastructure, he said at a media conference earlier this month hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.